Here are some early notes as the No. 24 Oregon State football team prepares to travel to No. 3 Boise State for a nonconference game Saturday evening.
Read my main story in Tuesday’s GT about the Beavers looking at the Broncos. Here’s the Boise State scouting report.
This is the second time ESPN College Game Day will originate from where the Beavers are playing. The first was at Louisiana State for the season opener in 2004.
Boise State is the highest ranked nonconference team OSU has played since No. 3 LSU in 2004. The last time OSU defeated a nonconference opponent ranked third or higher was Oct. 21, 1967 at No. 2 Purdue (22-14).
The only other times the Beavers faced a No. 3 team or higher was No. 3 Nebraska in 1989 (35-7 loss), No. 3 Michigan in 1986 (31-12 loss), No. 2 Ohio State in 1974 (51-10 loss), No. 2 Michigan State in 1951 (6-0 loss) and No. 2 Duke (20-16 win) for 1942 Rose Bowl.
This is the first of a two-game series with the Broncos. They return to Corvallis Sept. 15, 2012.
The Beavers are 5-for-5 in TDs scored in the red zone this season. Last year they led the nation in red zone scoring percentage at 96.4 percent with 73 percent TDs.
OSU averages 13 minutes less on offense than their opponents. It averages only 56 plays a game while opponents average 79 plays a game. The only team nationally with a worse time of possession than 23:28 is Middle Tennessee (22:57).
Coaching staffs across the country will join together in support of the Coast to Cure MD program Saturday by wearing the CURE MD logo patch. The third-year program has raised more than $500,000 to battle Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Fans will be asked to donate to research projects supported by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.
7 comments
ckbeav says:
May 18, 2012
Good stuff Cliff. What conference are the refs going to be from?
angrybeaver says:
May 18, 2012
How bad was Dilbeck's injury?
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
Unknown at the moment.
JuneauJim says:
May 18, 2012
Love the stats, Cliff.
The conversation has centered around the defense and certainly there are issues there. But the time of possession, total plays run and third down conversions are contributing factors to the defensive struggles. Keep the defense off the field and their stats will improve.
JackBeav says:
May 18, 2012
Tell the defense to get off the field on multiple third and long plays on every drive. That might help them stay off the field.
It should be a little insulting that no offense bothers to run a screen or draw in those situations. They just run a straight offense at us, and it works.
The offense can be better in third down conversions, but the defense's poor performance in the same situation is the main culprit.
jefframp says:
May 18, 2012
Beavs lost to Nebraska 35-7 in 1989. A 6-0 loss would have been a minor miracle back then.
ckirkpatrick says:
May 18, 2012
Fixed. I was looking at a lot of scores.