The Oregon State football team went indoors for practice on a cold, rainy Wednesday. “We felt we would get more done today than we would outside,” coach Mike Riley said.

Riley wanted to see how the team reacted in the early practices after the Washington State loss. “I thought they had another good day, and we got a lot done,” Riley said. “They worked hard.”

At the beginning of the practice the players were a little more aggressive to let out some steam.

“It’s a result of the situation we are in,” Riley said. “I think the players understand that, and there’s heightened enthusiasm.”

There were some changes to practice with less first-string vs. first string work.

“We want to get as prepped as we can,” Riley said. “We have gone through nine games, so we want to be as fresh as we can.”

MLB Tony Wilson (head) is running and on schedule to be ready to play Saturday. FB Will Darkins (head) is a day behind. He has not run, yet.

“We are going to the wire with it,” Riley said. “I still have high hopes they’ll go.”

If Wilson can’t go, Kevin Unga will just take his place in the rotation with Rueben Robinson.

Clayton York would take Darkins’ place, so the fullback play are not thrown out of the playbook. RB Jordan Jenkins is working as the backup FB and RB.

In a hope to get an excited crowd, OSU is asking for an “Orange Out” of Reser Stadium for the USC and Civil War games. So wear all orange.

And if you didn’t see this in the GT news section, here’s what happened to on 3-point stance Tyler Thomas.

Mail bag
I said I’d use an occasional letter sent to me more. Here’s one that has an opinion different from most of the comments on the blog:

Cliff,

First, thanks for all your work covering the Beavers, and especially the blog. Very much appreciated.

I wonder if you could let Coach Riley know, not everyone in Beaver Nation is upset & calling for coaching changes.

Every Beaver fan was sorely disappointed with last Saturday’s game. But there are quite a few fans that feel compassion for the players — know that they are in a tough spot — and are trying to help by being supportive and positive. These fans believe in the coaching staff, and in the team.

As is many times the case, the vocally negative few get noticed.

Go Beavs!

Darrell L. Robinson

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