Cliff: Practice styles

Coaches Bruce Read and Joe Seumalo are trying to get the most of the players. PHOTO/Scobel Wiggins

How the Oregon State football team practices came under scrutiny this week since the Beavers have not been ready to play the last two games.

Washington State dominated the Beavers from start to finish last weekend. During the UCLA game the week before there was a general lackluster effort.

“I feel we came out flat,” QB Ryan Katz said. “At times I felt we came out flat this season. We have to find a way to change that. Someone has to step up. We have to make more plays.”

This ongoing problem was something coach Mike Riley wondered about this week. That’s why the coaches reviewed what they are doing in practice.

“As much as anything it’s the approach to the detail to practice,” Riley said. “And then making it come alive in the game. Is it transferring to the game? Are we doing a good enough job coaching the details? Are we helping them to have the mental edge to play physically? Are we demanding enough of what’s expected?”

Read my main story in Wednesday’s GT where Riley defends what the staff is doing. It was addressed in my previous blog, but this has more details.

“I have a great group of coaches who are hard-working and very detailed,” Riley said. “All we are doing is asking the rhetorical questions of what’s missing here. What we have to continue is emphasis of the detail. That commitment is not only metal, but physical detail. There’s a progression to ready you to play on Saturday.”

Here’s a link to the notebook that has similar themes such as lack of depth on both lines, injury issues and other items.

“We’ve been there,” Riley said of being successful. “We’ve won a lot of games, and know the particulars to get to the football game. We have to reconfirm those things to our team. We are not at that edge. We are not playing well as we should. So we have to reconfirm those things that are important to the team’s past.”

Other parts of practice is how it’s put together. Are the players being prepared for the games by the coaches?

They usually are under Riley. And he’s not doing anything different. But should he?

“I thought about practice a lot during the years,” Riley said. “There are so many things you have to do in the week of preparation. There’s so many situations you have to cover. Those kinds of things are hard to change. We have practiced with a routine with those parts for eight years. Things have changed from time to time. We study that in the offseason. My contention is there’s a perfect way to practice and we are not there yet, but we keep searching for it. We tweak stuff all the time, but there are elements that don’t change. There are parts you have to go through and will always be included.”

Finally, there’s the intensity of practice. Riley’s not a yeller, but the defensive coaches are. So is offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf.

Riley has bee criticized over the years for not being intense enough or hard enough on the players.

“I really contend personality has nothing to do with preparation for football,” Riley said. “Being yourself is the way to go. That has nothing to do with being demanding or disciple. It always comes out if we win it’s my personality. When we lose it’s my personality. None of it means anything to me. I just coach.”

After all the preparation the coaches do, the players must put in the work on the field. Riley treats them like adults that they are, and expect them to strive to be the best.

“The players have to have the pride to have those details in the game,” Riley said. “If they are committed enough and ready enough, they play a good football game.”

So are the players getting what they need from practice?

“I felt pretty good after this last week,” Katz said. “The tempo was good. We just have to play faster in practice. We have to play harder in practice. That translates into the game.”

Mark Banker, Mike Riley and Reggie Davis hopes to inspire the players. PHOTO/Scobel Wiggins.