Cliff Kirkpatrick

Civil War media day came a day earlier this week since the No. 13 Oregon State football team’s road showdown with No. 7 Oregon is on Thursday night.

There were a lot of extra TV cameras and photographers. It must be a big game or something.

UPDATE: QB Sean Canfield did his press conference. He came across tense with his game face on. Is he nervous? The Rodgers brothers didn’t even hang around.

Post-practice update
I didn’t have to sneak in to practice. The Beavers are keeping it open all week, but requesting no cameras of any kind, even on cell phones.

The Beavers piped in the sound all practice to prepare for the crowd at Autzen Stadium. And it was loud. It was much louder than last game in preparation for Washington State.

Canfield was back to his mellow self. Maybe he just had a test on his mind.

Anyway, check out coach Mike Riley talking about the upcoming game. Extra video will be posted throughout the day. The second and third Riley videos picks up were the one above leaves off.

Below is a video of LB Keaton Kristick. I’m going to miss him next year. He has a great personality and humor. He wears a Marvel shirt around to these gatherings so OSU people make him put on an OSU shirt.

His favorite character is Wolverine. That must be why we get along. My youngest son is named Logan for a reason.

And here are some notes.

Uniforms
Riley said he doesn’t know what uniform the team will play in, but expects it to be white.

Injury report
TE Brady Camp (shoulder) should be ready for the game. DT Brennan Olander (knee) is questionable.

“I hope Brennan Olander can get to the game and play,” Riley said. “He has been a big factor for us. That’s up in the air. Brady Camp looks like he’ll be ready.”

Latest line
The line has moved. The Beavers are now 9.5-point underdogs. They started out at 8.

“The underdog stuff and points is for you guys to talk about and the fans to argue about,” Riley said. “It play no part in the preparation for the game.”

Long rivalry
The Civil War is the seventh-most contested rivalry in the nation with this being the 113th meeting. It dates back to 1894. Oregon leads the series 56-47-10.

Here’s who are ahead of the Beavers and Ducks: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin (119), Kansas vs. Missouri (118), Nebraska vs. Kansas (116), Texas vs. Texas A&M (116), Miami-Ohio vs. Cincinnati (114), North Carolina vs. Virginia (114) and Auburn vs. Georgia (113).

Balanced offense
The Beavers enter the final regular season game with 395 pass attempts and 388 rush attempts – a difference of seven. The seven-play difference is the smallest in the Pac-10.

Here’s what the other teams have done: UCLA (12), Washington State (18), Washington (22), Arizona (32), Arizona State (36), Southern California (73), California (89), Oregon (168) and Stanford (203).

Road warriors
Oregon State is the most successful team in the Pac-10 Conference in away games the last two seasons. The Beavers have won eight of their last 10 league road games, losing a 42-36 decision to then-No. 4 USC this season, and 36-28 in the 2008 season opener at Stanford.

Northwest title
Lost in all the Rose Bowl hype is that the winner of the Civil War will stake the claim of the Pacific Northwest title with wins over Washington and Washington State . OSU won all three games in 2007 and in 2004.

Tough to shutout
OSU has scored in 38 of its 44 quarters (86.4 percent) – fourth in the nation, trailing only Houston (45-48, 93.8 percent), Boise State (39-44, 88.6 percent) and Florida (39-44, 88.6 percent).

The Beavers haven’t been shutout in a game since Sept. 28, 2002 at USC (22-0) – a streak of 107 consecutive games and 158 of 159 games dating back to a 1997, a shutout again by USC (23-0).

Facing ranked teams
Oregon State has won seven of its last 13 games against ranked opponents, including four on the road – at No. 24 Hawaii in 2006 (35-32), at No. 2 California in 2007 (31-28), at No. 18 Oregon in 2007 (38-31) and at No. 23 California in 2009 (31-14).

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DT Brennan Olander (ACL sprain) and TE Brady Camp (shoulder sprain) didn’t practice Monday with the Oregon State football team, but coach Mike Riley said they’ll be ready by the Dec. 3 Civil War.

“Good news on both,” Riley said. “I wouldn’t say they are 100 percent, but it’s above the doubtful stage. I think by the weekend we’ll have a good picture of those guys being able to play in the game.”

TE Joe Halahuni (thumb sprain) was out, but he expects to be ready after Thanksgiving when the team gets back from the break.

“He said it will be all right by Saturday when we come back to practice,” Riley said. “He said it’s a lot better than yesterday.”

Overall, it was a spirited practice. The first-team offense and defense went against each other early in the practice. Then Oregon prep started.

“I liked it,” Riley said. “I was really impressed. It was business-like, but they were jumping around pretty good. If we can have a couple days like this and then get on to the weekend when they get back, and continue with this, that will be good.”

The Beavers may have used the most orange jerseys for the scout team ever with 12 for 10 positions, six on offense and four on defense. A player wearing orange means they are a specific player the team is worried about.

“It might be,” Riley said of if it’s a record. “With what they are doing, it might be.”

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Oregon State DT Brennan Olander (knee) and TE Brady Camp (shoulder) had MRIs but there were no results back, yet, coach Mike Riley said Sunday night.

Olander and Camp were hurt during the first half of Saturday’s win over Washington State. Riley believes they’ll ready for the Dec. 3 Civil War.

The Beavers listened on the radio to the finish of the Oregon-Arizona game on the way to the airport Saturday night, and Riley said everyone cheered for the Ducks. He called it an old-fashioned deal with everyone huddled around the radio

“Everyone saw the irony in that,” Riley said. “There was no doubt. They were looking forward to this matchup being this. What they wanted was a clear-cut deal. If we win, that’s it. If we didn’t, we wait it out.”

Riley’s so hyped for the game that he plans to start some Oregon prep this week. He usually waits until the week of the game. And he even addressed the game with players Sunday. That’s far in advance for him.

“I don’t talk about the next game on Sunday,” Riley said. “I wait until Tuesday (of game week). But it’s lurking out there. I asked them why we are where we are. One big one was staying in the moment and playing the game. But you can’t hide from it. It’s great. I just hope for our team’s sake they can’t get caught up with the ramifications, but it’s cool. It’s a unique situation. And it’s all out there in front of you. Now it’s up to us to make the most of it.”

Being Masoli
The defense needs an athletic scout team QB to help prepare for Oregon’s Jeremiah Masoli. Riley said he’ll use true freshman CB Rashaad Reynolds. He ran the spread in high school is has those kinds of moves.

“It’s hard to simulate that offense, but we are going to try,” Riley said.

Uniform color
I asked Riley about wearing the home uniforms in the Civil War. He said he hadn’t thought about it, yet. However, it was agreed upon at the conference meetings that during rivalry games teams can wear different colors than normal if it’s agreed on early in the week.

Riley said if the Beavers did that they would wear orange. Then the Ducks can wear the Beavers copycat black and it would be an OSU scrimmage.

At the polls
Here’s a review of where the Beavers and Ducks stack up in the polls heading into the Civil War. The Beavers are No. 16 in AP, No. 18 in the coaches’ and No. 16 in the BCS. The Ducks are No. 10 AP and coaches and No. 8 in the BCS.

The schedule
The Beavers will practice Monday and Tuesday and then take Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off to rest and celebrate Thanksgiving. They return to practice Saturday. Practices are open this week, but they will be closed to the public Civil War week.

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