Oregon State football coach Mike Riley reviews the video about games and sleeps on it before I get to catch up with him on a variety of topics for my follow story in Monday’s GT already up on the website.
Here are the bullet points coming off the TCU loss:
• “I think what I told the team, the best way to respond to that is we played a very good football team with a lot of speed and athletic ability,” Riley said. “When you play top competition, the margin of error is very small.”
• No major injuries came out of the game. WR Aaron Nichols had the wind knocked out of him, S Suaesi Tuimaunei had a cramp and TE Joe Halahuni bruised a shoulder.
• There are no lineup changes planned for the offense or defense. Expect a deep rotation at LB with Cameron Collins, Kevin Unga and Michael Doctor, the official second line.
• As for the for the run defense, Riley believes more coaching will improve the situation. If you remember in 2006 the Beavers stopped Oregon and everyone else with that spread offense because the players were coached up at their peak. That hasn’t been reached since then.
• On what he heard from C Alex Linnenkohl on the bad snap: “Alex was worried about the time clock. It was total malfunction. And, it was the only play like that in the whole game. That’s strange that it popped up like it did. We didn’t go to the line of scrimmage with confidence. I was really shocked by it.”
• The Beavers got home at 4 a.m. Sunday from the trip. Due to the long travel Riley’s happy for a bye week to get organized.
• While the TCU camp made a big deal about the roof being open due the heat Riley doesn’t think it was a factor. “It wasn’t typical Texas heat.”
• The Beavers ran only 51 plays to TCU’s 81 plays. “They just chewed up the clock,” Riley said. “We’ve never just run 51 plays.”
• Former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti will do color commentary for the Sept. 25 game at Boise State.
14 comments
angrybeaver says:
May 18, 2012
Banker,
Begin adjusting your scheme for hybrid safety/linebackers–that is what you have on the roster. Use them.
http://angrybeavs.com
OSU4life says:
May 18, 2012
Here are my main concerns after watching the disappointing game vs TCU:
1) Why is the defense so slow? The LB’s looked 1-2 steps slow and they were out of position the entire game.
2) Where was the pressure/containment from the front 7? AKA: Run defense?
3) Why can’t the OL get the push up front needed for a productive and consistant running game?
(OSU future opponents will exploit these weaknesses.)
4) What happened to the overall team speed? (Is OSU really as slow as they looked?)
5) Why can’t Mark Banker figure out how to stop the “spread offense” with a running QB?
Can anyone else answer these questions???
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
1. Inexperienced MLB. Roberson and Pankey will get faster with the next game.
2. See No. 1.
3. TCU was a good defense and stacked the box with 7 players.
4. Defense needs game experience and then they play faster reading what's going on.
5. He has, only with an experienced playing at the peak. That hasn't been around since 2006. Another problem is OSU doesn't change its defense just for 3-4 teams out of 12.
OSU4life says:
May 18, 2012
Great responses Cliff!
Thank you for answering my questions, I wanted to hear what you thought!
JackBeav says:
May 18, 2012
Stacking the box with 7? 7 is the normal number of defenders in the box. That's why most teams play a 3-4 or a 4-3 defense.
We had no run blocking because the left side collapsed on itself every time we tried to run. Even when we had a TE to that side, they seemed to be falling all over each other.
I liked Burke Ellis' play though. I was a doubter before the game, but Quizz' TD was a thing of beauty on Ellis' part. And evrything Quizz got was on the right side.
Even if Pankey and Roberson had more speed, it would just let them get to the wrong place faster. The Wilson/Feti combo wasn't too bad. They could have been better, but they weren't beat too badly. And they certainly didn't look like they were either lost or dancing with some blocker. They were certainly better than both OLB's combined.
Something has to be done, or we're going to end up with multiple broken safeties by game 5 due to exccessive tackling.
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
I should have typed 7-8. Plus the philosophy of stopping the middle run (Quizz). They were tight so there was no room for him. Then just fast enough to stop the outside stuff. Overall, that was a veteran, good defense. The results were not unexpected.
sdbeav says:
May 18, 2012
More importantly…
Why do I have to endure Bellotti doing the Boise State game?
OSU4life says:
May 18, 2012
SDBEAV,
I agree with you completely! I don't think ESPN allows Herbstreit to do Michigan or Ohio State games? If Bellotti is bad, OSU fans will have to write letters to ESPN, and hopefully he won't do OSU games anymore!
Let's think positively and hope Bellotti won't be biased or too much of a homer! Mike Bellotti really respects Mike Riley though!
SnohoBeav says:
May 18, 2012
Herbstreit did do the USC-Ohio State game last year. Commentator's aren't allowed to make a pick for the game they're covering. There's no provision against alums calling their school's games.
Dan Fouts, when he worked for ABC, called several Oregon games, also.
The question is, which team will Bellotti belittle – OSU or BSU? (I'm kidding).
SanDiegoBeav says:
May 18, 2012
Cliff,
I have a question about the H-Back/Tight End situation. Why in the world doesn't Halahuni play more? He is a great receiving threat and once he does catch the ball, he is a load to bring down. He reminds me of Antonio Gates. I know he is technically the "H-Back" and not the tight end but the team needs its best players on the field as often as possible. I was at the game in Dallas and I kept seeing him on the sideline in obvious passing situations. He is too good of a player to not be in the game more often. Any thoughts on this issue? Thanks.
maffub says:
May 18, 2012
I would think it's because the coaching staff felt blocking was a greater priority than pass-catching… in order to make sure the TCU pressure was picked up.
Just my 2 cents.
Personally, I'm excited about this Beaver team.
tradernum1 says:
May 18, 2012
If one of the teams playing the spread is the team from Eugene that has won the last two CW's, Banker dang well better change something.
rooruns says:
May 18, 2012
Game was about what I expected. We were competitive, but did not play like winners. Look at Boise State–they talked like winners and showed it on the field. I didn't see the intensity on defense that I've seen from past beavers. We looked out of place and lost most of the night. Hopefully this team will improve. I think Katz will only get better. Coaches need to get the right people on the field. I expect us to win the next game. I predicted a win at BSU, but we need to step it up and play like we know we can win, or the Broncos will have a field day. They looked good against VT, but definitely vulnerable to big boy football.
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
He just moved to OLB. He's not ready to play ahead of Pankey or Roberson. In time, maybe.