SB Nation - Lance Mitchell

OPPONENT PREVIEW: Oregon State Beavers

Dancing Football — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:22:40 -0000

More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

Raise your hands if you are awesome!

(12:08 EDIT: I added Nuss's interview with Building the Dam)

Head Coach: Mike Riley

Record 7-3 (5-2)

In Grady's recap of Washington State's loss to Arizona a few weeks ago, he decided to go with a sort of "fill-in-the-blank" form, instead of writing a same as usual story about a game that was never in doubt. This is how the opponent previews have begun to feel.

Seriously, go take a look at the opponent previews of all the Pac 10 teams. It is always "Pac 10 team X has a solid running game and balance that with a good passing attack" and "Pac 10 defense X has done pretty well against the run and the pass and is about average in terms of yards per play." It's no surprise the race for the Rose Bowl is so jammed up this year, ALL THE TEAMS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME! Except the Cougs of course. As a comment to the rest of the country, that does not mean the Pac 10 sucks, it means it is deep with a lot of very good teams. Just remember, our fifth place team beat Ohio State in the Horseshoe with a freshman quarterback. What was the point of this post again? Oh yeah, on with the preview of the Beavs.

Offense: 31.4 PPG, 5.8 YPP

The Beaver offense may not be an explosive attack (guessing they will look like one on Saturday), but it is highly effective in all aspects of the game. Senior Sean Canfield is having a fantastic season, completing nearly 70% of his passes, while throwing 17 touchdowns to just five interceptions. He has not been immune to pressure however, as he has been sacked 26 times this season.

The bulk of the offense is run through two guys who grew up in the same household. The younger brother, Jacquizz Rodgers, has been a workhorse, carrying the ball 215 times for 1148 yards and catching 62 passes. The elder James Rodgers leads the Beavers with 71 receptions and has also carried the ball 46 times. If you were to guess on each Beaver play that a guy with the last name "Rodgers" would be involved, you would be right more often than not.

No shocker to Coug fans, OSU should have an easy time moving the ball. The issue of pressure on Canfield should not be a factor, as the Washington State defense will be taking volunteers from the stands to fill out the defensive line.

Defense: 23.4, 5.5 YPP

The Beavs don't have a particularly stout defense in term of yards per play and they don't possess that ability to get in the backfield they used to (14 sacks, just three more than the vaunted Cougar pass rush). What they have down really well is get off the field on third downs. Opponents are converting just 37% of their opportunities, and that has made the difference in what is otherwise only slight statistical advantages across the board. They haven't forced a lot of turnovers (just 11), but that is not as necessary with their ability to prevent the other guys from moving the chains.

The leading tackler for OSU is senior linebacker Keaton Kristick, who has 74 to go along with a pair of interceptions and 6.5 tackles for loss. Sophomore defensive back Lance Mitchell has three of the team's seven interceptions. Junior Stephen Paea leads the defensive line with 5.5 tackles for loss, including three sacks.

Look for Oregon State to out-man the Cougs on this side of the ball. Points will not be easy to come by, with sustained drives highly unlikely. It is going to take another deep pass for Wazzu to score in this one.

The Beavers are in trouble if: They are not. Not at all. One place where these two schools do stack up well is in the engineering department. On that note, I suggest you click this link, and laugh hysterically.

What the other guys are saying: An interview previewing the Cougs’ upcoming game against Oregon State with BuildingTheDam.com writer Jake Bertalotto. Topics covered include the Beavers’ potent three-headed attack on offense, the keys to their defense, and just how determined OSU is to not have a repeat of last year. You can listen to the interview on the embedded player here, go to our podcast site, or subscribe to it on iTunes.

Oregon St. Notes, Byers starts over O'Dowd, RoJo will start on Sat. as well

Paragon SC — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:13:49 -0000

There was some interesting news from the coaching staff yesterday...

Jeff Byers will start at center over Kristofer O'Dowd. This might be a shock to some but the running game doesn't seem to be where many of us think it should be.

The season has not gone as planned for the 6-foot-5, 300-pound O'Dowd, who had off-season shoulder surgery that caused him to miss spring practice and then suffered a dislocated kneecap for the second time in three seasons.

O'Dowd sat out the opener against San Jose State but returned to play against Ohio State.

"I tried to fight back and got back as quickly as I could, but it still wasn't necessarily 100%," he said. "I was hoping that by going out there and working on it, I would build it up to where it would get back to normal, but it just hasn't been the case."

Byers, who came to USC as a center in 2004, took the majority of snaps with the first-team offense during practice this week. He will start for the second time this season at center.

I am not surprised that he was not 100%. A dislocated patella is a tricky injury to recover from, especially if you re-injure it. O'Dowd is looking at some off-season knee surgery to fix the damaged structures.

The great thing in this article is that O'Dowd plans on returning for his senior season.

Opposing defenses have been able to get penetration on our running game this season. We have seen it in a number of different games. With Marc Tyler out of the season and C.J. Gable inexplicably still in the doghouse it all falls on Joe McKnight and Allen Bradford. It is possible that we could see Curtis McNeal in the game but with Stanley Havili pretty much questionable that opens up the door for D.J. Shoemate at the FB spot. Regardless of who is on the field the O line needs to blow some holes open to get these guys some room to operate.

From what I have seen it would appear that McKnight actually does pretty well when runs between the tackles. When he jukes and moves trying to get to the outside is when he seems to not be less effective...this is particularly true (obviously) when the defense can beat him to the outside.

The offense is really close to busting out...If the running game gets rolling we could see some some really interesting games in the second half of the season.

USC closed the first half of '09 with its strongest offensive performance since the season opener (which was against 1-5 San Jose State, so please feel free to affix an asterisk). The Trojans scored 34 points at Notre Dame – after scoring 30 at Cal, 27 against Washington State and 13 at Washington.

Barkley missed the Washington game – the lone loss on 5-1 USC's ledger – because of a shoulder injury. In his four games since the opener, he has mirrored the offense's ascent.

Barkley passed for 195 yards Sept. 12 at Ohio State. He nearly doubled that total – 380 – at Notre Dame.

Barkley completed 48.4 percent of his passes against the Buckeyes. He hit on 65.5 percent – again, the best since San Jose State – against the Fighting Irish.

Yet in a sign of how driven he is to succeed – and how he is raising the standard for every freshman quarterback to follow him – Barkley was far from satisfied with his performance.

"I've got more potential in me," Barkley said. "After watching tape on Saturday's game, it was a lot more scrappy than I thought it was, not as pristine. There's always stuff to improve on. ... There are some little things we need to work on in order to get better."

I don't think there is any question that Barkley has some growing to do.

He has come a long way for a true freshman...just going on the road and getting the win at Ohio St. and Notre Dame with minimal mistakes shows his maturity.

And Barkley learns fast as well...

USC twice ran play-action passes on third-and-1. The first time, tight end Anthony McCoy was open – but Barkley didn't set his feet and underthrew the pass. McCoy gained 23 yards, but it could have been a lot more.

The next time, McCoy again was open – and Barkley delivered a strike. McCoy rumbled downfield for 60 yards. It took all of a quarter for Barkley to learn his lesson and make the proper adjustment.

"The kid is doing great," senior guard Jeff Byers said. "He impresses me every day. He's a really special guy back there. He's playing his butt off."

That Barkley has won over his veteran teammates isn't insignificant. USC returned nine starters on offense, and the unit had great expectations despite one of the losses being All-Pac-10 quarterback Mark Sanchez, whom the New York Jets took with the fifth pick in the NFL draft.

When Carroll elevated Barkley over redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp – who won the job in spring but lost it in fall after breaking his leg – there were hints of skepticism inside the locker room and heaps of it outside. The Trojans entered 2009 with seven consecutive conference crowns, BCS bowl berths and 11-plus-victory seasons, and now they were entrusting a freshman to help make it eight?

I don't think anyone is questioning PC's move now are they? Barkley has done good enough to shut the mouths of clowns like the insufferable Matt Hayes who constantly tried to say that Barkley's inexperience would hurt SC. So far that hasn't been the case and while I am not ready to say that he is not susceptible to a rookie mistake Barkley has done a remarkable job at leading the offense.

SC needs to put some points up on the board early to force The Beavers to have to play catch up and the running game is key to putting points up on the board. More on why later...

USC also gets RoJo back in the starting line up on Saturday.

Receiver Ronald Johnson struggled to regain game speed against Notre Dame and acknowledged continued soreness early this week.

The junior, however, will start against Oregon State, Carroll said.

Johnson, who suffered a broken collarbone before the season, had one reception against Notre Dame.

Johnson replaces David Ausberry in the starting lineup. Ausberry, who has 10 receptions, has been slowed this week by a calf strain.

I think that is a big deal.

RoJo clearly was not himself against ND, nor did I expect him to be. I think he needed a little more time to get back into the groove in regards to his timing and route running. You just don't come back after being out six weeks and hope to perform at the same level that you were out prior to your injury, especially in a big game like Notre Dame at South Bend. We all know RoJo is our speedster and if he is on that will keep the OSU defense honest. If RoJo gets behind their DB's it could spell trouble for Oregon St. especially with Barkley getting better and better each week.

On the defensive side of the ball this weeks game is a big test for the USC defense.

Last year the D line was embarrassed by Jacquizz Rodgers. Averill SPicer and Christian Tupou both had bad games last year, they had no answer for him in the first half, though SC made some adjustments in the second half to contain 'Quizz better. They moved Casey to the NT spot and moved Ellison up into the box. I could go on...

This is a very stout D line that SC has coming into this game. With Casey at NT and Armond Armstead (probably right nest to Casey) back in the groove from his injury I think that 'Quizz will have a tougher time than he did last year. It will be more difficult than last year to get the type of yardage that he had last year. I also want to see how Everson Griffen plays in this game. Last season he was continually motion-blocked by James Rodgers and taken out of the play. Hopefully Jethro Franklin has brought Griffen along to be able to handle that wrinkle in the OSU offense.

I think 'Quizz will get some yards and he won't put the ball on the turf, but I think this is a better front seven for this game than what we had last year by just putting in Casey and Armstead over Tupou and Spicer (no offense gents). The speed of this years D line is just insane. We already have seen their speed but I think the LB's are less susceptible to over running the play like we say Rey do last season in Corvallis. The OSU O line lost three players to the NFL last season, not that it matters, so while they still have some talent it is not quite as experienced as last season if SC gets some points on the board early it could force OSU to use 'Quizz less if they have to play catch up by airing it out.

Lets talk a little bit about some players on Oregon St.

There is an interesting article up at the Oregonian discussing Oregon St. players who feel they were snubbed by not being recruited by USC.

I found these comments by Beavers OL Gregg Peat...(emphasis added)

"Not even a second glance," Peat said. "Pete Carroll was there and I'm sure (he watched me) and was like, 'Ah, um, no.' They recruit the best of the best and none of us are usually their caliber of player.

"Or so they think."

Peat's recruiting anecdote is common among Oregon State players who played high school ball in the Southern California area. A handful of them, like senior corner Tim Clark, who is from Compton, and safety Lance Mitchell, who is from Pasadena, grew up in USC's backyard -- but they didn't get a sniff from the Trojans.

"I think not being recruited by your hometown team is a little bit of a slap in the face," Mitchell said.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Blah, Blah, Blah.

Please...

Peat has turned into a fine player, no question. Some players need a few years at the college level to really blossom and Peat looks to be one of those. Look, I get it that these guys will try to use what they feel is "snub" as some motivation for this game but SC can't recruit them all. Pete Carroll and his staff can't look into the crystal ball and see how every player out there will turn out.

More interesting is this...

Peat originally committed to Nevada before accepting an offer from the Beavers without ever taking a visit. Nevada? Really? That is a real power house of football...I guess SC really missed out when the kid committed up there, I am sure they scrambled to steal him from Nevada.

</sarcasm>

So, yeah PC may "have seen him" when he was recruiting Mark Sanchez but does anyone think that Peat would be on the field now with all the other talent SC has on the O line? There are only 85 schollies so I am not sure who SC should have NOT recruited on the OL in place of Peat. Point being is simple...everyone gets up to play USC. If these guys want use a supposed "snub" about not being recruited then so be it. I wish them luck...

I think this will be a great game and if all the mini drama's help to make it a better game than that is fine with me.

Kristick: 'Cincinnati is going to be really tough'

AndyPanda — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:25:57 -0000

So says Keaton Kristick in this week's edition of his weekly column in the Sporting News Daily, which starts with a review of the highlights of the UNLV game.

BY KEATON KRISTICK

For SN Today

We had a close game at UNLV last Saturday. Our defense did really well in the beginning, and the offense put up some points early in the second half. Then UNLV got a couple of breaks, and they got the momentum on their side.

They came back at the end of the fourth quarter, and we held them off with a field goal with seven seconds left.

Oregon State kicker Justin Kahut delivers the game winning field goal against the Rebels.

We're just glad we beat UNLV, because they were a good team, and we definitely respect them.

Kristick goes on, recounting his key fumble recovery and return, after the big hit by Lance Mitchell.

In the second quarter, I had a fumble recovery. There was an out route, and the guy caught it in open space and tried to jump over one of our players. Lance Mitchell, one of our safeties, really gave him a pop, and the ball came out. I just locked eyes with the ball and hoped I'd pick it up. I grabbed it and just started chugging away.

I was going to try and pitch it back, try and make a play, but at the same time my running back instincts from high school kicked in, and I tried to get upfield as far as I could. I ended up going about 18 yards to our 30 before one of their linemen came at me at full speed and just smashed me along the sideline. I just tried to hang onto the ball. Our offense scored after that, which really helped us.

And just as things quickly truned to thoughts of this week's Cincinnati game Saturday night, Keaton shifts to look ahead at the Bearcats.

After the game, there was a lot of excitement in the locker room. We haven't been 2-0 in a while, and to be 2-0 heading into the Cincinnati game is good. Cincinnati is going to be really tough. They run a similar offense to the last two teams we played, and it's very potent. They scored 70 points against Southeast Missouri State last week. They spread the ball out really well. We just have to be ready for it.

We lost at Cincinnati a couple of years ago, so we have a sour taste in our mouths watching film and stuff. We were there for a couple of days, just trying to get acclimated to the time difference and stuff like that. It was a few hours forward, and it was messing with our sleep a little bit. That's no excuse, but then they got off to a good start, and we really couldn't do much offensively that game.

This game could really help us as we try to get off to a good start before Pac-10 play. We're back at home, where the fans will be on our side, and the momentum will hopefully be on our side. It's going to be a classic college football game.

- As told to Jim Ryan

Classic indeed, as it will be the biggest non-conference game ever played in Corvallis. It been 32 years since a nationally ranked non-conference opponent has visited Corvallis, since 13th. ranked BYU came to town in 1977. And it has never happened when the visitor and the Beavers were both ranked.

Statistical Recap: OSU/UNLV

Jake Bertalotto — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:00:39 -0000

More photos » by Daniel Gluskoter - AP

3 months ago: Oregon State quarterback Sean Canfield looks to throw during an NCAA college football game against UNLV on Saturday Sept. 12, 2009, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Daniel Gluskoter)

Browse more photos »

Oregon State snuck out of Las Vegas with a win on Saturday night, clinching the victory with a 33-yard Justin Kahut field goal after 14 unanswered UNLV points in the fourth quarter.

First, some miscellaneous game notes via Oregon State:

· Attendance for the game was 25,967.
· The 8 p.m. start is the latest currently on OSU's schedule for 2009.
· Captains for OSU at the start of the game were Lyle Moevao, Keaton Kristick, Stephen Paea and Dwight Roberson. OSU won the coin toss and elected to defer.
· The game was the 20th straight game that the Beavers had a game televised, which is a school record. It dates back to Nov. 3, 2007 at USC.
· The Beavers started the game with three safeties ... Cameron Collins got the first start of his career.
· The Beavers won their 29th game in their last 41 contests, the second-best mark in the Pac-10 behind only USC.
· The Beavers improved to 27-3 in their last 63 games when committing less than turnovers than their opponents.
· Head coach Mike Riley improved to 57-42 at Oregon State.
· Redshirt freshman Jordan Bishop made the first reception of his career on a first quarter grab.
· Sophomore safety Lance Mitchell created the first turnovers of his career ... first an interception and first forced fumble.
· Sophomore defensive end Kevin Frahm turned in the first quarterback sack of his career.
· Sophomore tailback Jacquizz Rodgers got loose twice recording career-long runs on two occasions. First he had a 45-yard run in the first half ... he then beat that on the first drive of the second half going 47 yards.
· Jacquizz Rodgers went over 100 yards rushing for the ninth time in his career and the second week in a row.

Linescore:

Final - 9.12.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
Oregon St. Beavers	0	6	14	3	23
UNLV Rebels	0	0	7	14	21

Complete Coverage >

Scoring Summary:

2nd 01:04 OSU - Camp, Brady 1 yd pass from Canfield, Sean (Kahut, Justin kick failed)
13 plays, 70 yards, TOP 5:51, OSU 6 - LV 0
3rd 13:07 OSU - Rodgers, Jacquizz 2 yd run (Kahut, Justin kick)
5 plays, 60 yards, TOP 1:53, OSU 13 - LV 0
10:42 LV - ANTHONY, R. 19 yd pass from CLAYTON, Omar (WATSON, Kyle kick)
5 plays, 36 yards, TOP 2:14, OSU 13 - LV 7
07:17 OSU - Rodgers, James 4 yd pass from Canfield, Sean (Kahut, Justin kick)
7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:21, OSU 20 - LV 7
4th 10:53 LV - ANTHONY, R. 13 yd pass from CLAUSEN, Mike (WATSON, Kyle kick)
7 plays, 66 yards, TOP 2:44, OSU 20 - LV 14
04:16 LV - PAYNE, Phillip 10 yd pass from CLAUSEN, Mike (WATSON, Kyle kick)
6 plays, 51 yards, TOP 2:40, OSU 20 - LV 21
00:07 OSU - Kahut, Justin 33 yd field goal
12 plays, 64 yards, TOP 4:09, OSU 23 - LV 21

Rushing:

Jacquizz Rodgers 26-166 1 TD, 6.4 ypc

Jovan Stevenson 2-28

James Rodgers 3-16

Sean Canfield 4- -26

Team: 186 yards

Passing:

Sean Canfield: 25-31, 198 yards, 2 TD

Receiving

Jacquizz Rodgers: 10-65

James Rodgers: 6-48, 1 TD

Jordan Bishop: 5-43

Casey Kjos: 1-15

Brady Camp: 1-1, 1 TD

Team: 198 yards

Drive Chart:

[Complete stats at OSUBeavers.com]

So what we have here is a good day for the Rodgers brothers, and another solid start for Sean Canfield. The coaches did open the playbook more than they did against Portland State in terms of spreading the ball around with passes to Bishop, Kjos, and Camp, but the Beavers were still Rodgers-dimensional. But why not be? A heavy dose of James and Jacquizz was obviously working, especially down the stretch in the second half. But the Beavers did show that they can rely on other players under pressure. Adeniji and Bishop both had key grabs on the final drive, and Jacquizz burrowed his way into Rebel territory on his longest reception of the game to set Kahut's field goal at 33 yards.

I mentioned this earlier today, but I felt that the Beavers were really conservative in their play-calling, especially in the passing game. You'll see that other than Jacquizz, who was mostly making short receptions and picking up tough yards after the catch, the Beavers leading receiver was James Rodgers with 48 yards. He almost had twice as many yards after the first play of the Portland State game. Canfield's longest completion was a 21-yarder to Jordan Bishop.

We can question play-calling all we want, but with 382 offensive yards and a 5.8 yard-per-play average, it's tough to complain about coaching decisions made on Saturday night.

But that's just me. What's your take?

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Beavers Survive Las Vegas, Defeat UNLV

Jake Bertalotto — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:22:14 -0000

More photos » by Daniel Gluskoter - AP

3 months ago: Oregon State coach Mike Riley gestures before an NCAA college football game against UNLV on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Daniel Gluskoter)

Browse more photos »

Final Score: Oregon State 23, UNLV 21 (Box score)

Déjà vu, anyone?

The Beavers defeated the UNLV Rebels 23-21 on Saturday night. It came down to a last-second field goal by Justin Kahut that clinched the win for the Beavers. Earlier in the game, Kahut missed a field goal off an upright, and then missed an extra point.

Sound familiar yet?

On November 22 of last year, Justin Kahut missed an extra point following a Beaver touchdown, then hit a 24-yard field goal as time expired to defeat Arizona 19-17.

As Justin told the Oregonian's Paul Buker after the game, "I was on the sidelines when they were up by one, thinking, 'well, it's happened before, why not again? I feel like everything happens for a reason."

"I feel like God has something in store for me," Kahut continued. "Didn't know if it was going to be today, but I knew I was going to grow from it.''

Kahut, who had to be frustrated from missing two kicks earlier in Saturday's game, put it all behind him for the final field goal.

"I was feeling very calm. I was very confident."

* * *

The Beavers struggled to move the ball on their initial three drives. The only points of the first half came when Sean Canfield's lob toward the end zone found junior Tight End Brady Camp. Outside of their lone scoring drive in the second quarter, Oregon State only had 48 yards of offense in the first half. However, the 70-yard drive made the first half respectable.

The Beavers would score touchdowns on their first two drives of the second half, drawing accolades to OSU's game with UCLA last year. Against the Bruins, the game was tied 3-3 at halftime before the Beavers exploded for 31 points in the second half, and won by 28.

However, the game soon became more reminiscent of OSU's win over Arizona from last season, as UNLV charged back with three second-half touchdowns, taking their first lead of the game with 6:56 remaining.

For the second week in a row, the Beavers relied heavily on James and Jacquizz Rodgers. Jacquizz rushed for 166 yards on 23 carries and scored a touchdown, and James caught six passes for 48 yards and scored once as well.

"We're just going out there and playing for ourselves," James Rodgers told televison cameras after the game. "A lot of people doubt us. We didn't play to well today. And I thought the defense did great. Offense, we still have a lot of work to do."

The Oregon State defense held UNLV to only 82 rushing yards, but starter Omar Clayton and eventually backup Mike Clausen had their way at times with the OSU secondary. Clayton threw for 170 yards and a touchdown, while Clausen came in to throw for 58 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Safety Lance Mitchell came through for the defense and was involved with both turnovers recovered by OSU. Mitchell intercepted a pass by Clayton in the first quarter, and later delivered a blow to UNLV WR Rodelin Anthony, causing a fumble that was recovered by Keaton Kristick.

Senior quarterback Sean Canfield completed 25 of 31 passes for 198 yards. He threw two touchdown passes (Camp, James Rodgers), and was sacked on three occasions. Canfield was 10 of 11 passing in the first half.

In addition to the aforementioned players, Damola Adeniji, Jordan Bishop, and Casey Kjos also caught passes in the game for the Beavers. The most memorable was Bishop's 14-yard reception from Canfield in which he was upended by a UNLV defender, did a complete flip in mid-air, but retained possession of the ball. Jordan fishished with 5 grabs for 43 yards in the game.

With the win, the Beavers picked up their 29th win in their last 41 contests, the second-best mark in the Pac-10 behind only USC. Also, they begin with their first 2-0 start since 2005, when the Beavers beat Portland State and Boise State to begin the year.

I'm sure most of you will agree with this sentiment-- I'm just happy that the Beavers will leave Vegas with a win, but there's still lot of improvement to make. Let's hope that what happened Saturday night in Vegas stays in Vegas.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Kristick Covers The Rodgers, The Vikings, and Las Vegas

AndyPanda — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:48:46 -0000

Oregon State linebacker Keaton Kristick's weekly column for the Sporting News Today is out, with his thoughts on the Portland State game, and everyone's favorite Beaver brother act (though the Unga brothers had a good weekend too.)

Slot machines aside, Beavers head to Vegas

BY KEATON KRISTICK

For SN Today

I thought we did really, really well against Portland State. We got out to an early lead. Sean Canfield gunned one deep, 87 yards to James Rodgers on our first play on offense. It kind of started the game off right. The Rodgers brothers are a lot of fun, and they’re really good guys.

During the week, we’re essentially two different teams: offense and defense. But when it comes to game time, it’s good to have them on our side. They’re really quick and agile.

Kristick gave props to the new Beaver safeties in his review of the defense.

When you practice against guys like that with their speed, come game time, it’s going to be that much easier for the defense. Against Portland State, the defense had a shutout going for most of the game. They didn’t score until late in the fourth quarter. Our last game was a shutout in the Sun Bowl, and it would have been kind of cool to get two in a row, but it’s not that big of a deal. I think our defense played really well. We were swarming and really just getting after it.

I thought our safeties were especially good, the way they came down on tackles, the way they called some of their coverages. I think it really helped us.

They were playing like veterans: Suaesi Tuimaunei, Lance Mitchell, and Anthony Watkins. They all did really well.
Portland State had a spread offense, and we’re going to be playing a couple of spread offenses in the first couple of games, so it’s good to get used to playing against them, playing out in space as a linebacker.

Playing in Las Vegas will bring Kristick, from Fountain Hills, AZ, closer to home, and also afford him to play against an old opponent from high school. But while a lot of family and friends will have the opportunity to watch, it isn't like Las Vegas is familiar territory.

We’re really looking forward to this upcoming game at UNLV. They’re from the Mountain West Conference, which did really well this past weekend, so we can’t take them lightly.

Like Portland State, UNLV is going to try to spread the field out. They have a pretty good quarterback and a whole bunch of athletes, so it’s going to be a step up from last week. I remember playing against their running back, Channing Trotter, in high school in Arizona. It’ll be cool to go up against him again.

I’ve got 15-20 people coming up from Arizona to go to the game; it’s about an hour-long flight. I’ll probably trade with my teammates for tickets—that’s how we do it.

I haven’t really been to Vegas, not since I was a little kid. I’ve never used a slot machine before. But I think we’re going to stay in a hotel kind of away from all the noise and stuff. It’s more of a business trip than anything, but I’m

sure we’ll walk around a little bit, get a feel for the atmosphere. It should be kind of fun.

— As told to Jim Ryan

No one blinks at 'Quizz, Including the Maxwell Club

AndyPanda — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:13:09 -0000

Day 5 was the first day in full pads, and the day of the much anticipated "first hit" on the Beaver's star running back Jacquizz Rodgers.

"I don't think anybody blinked," Coach Mike Riley said. "I know he didn't."

Riley said he didn't put any limits on what Quizz could do.

"Believe me, I've thought a lot about that. "I'm not going to hold him back from getting ready to go. We are not tackling right now, but you're going to get hit. He's been deemed 100 % by everybody, and we have got a lot of opinions on that. So I feel strong what the doctors think about it. I'm think right now for his sake, he just needs to practice like we do, which is pretty physical.

"I don't know about scrimmaging right now though. I don't know if I'll let him scrimmage full speed. I don't think I would want to watch."

(Photo by Steve Dykes)

Quizz, after taking several solid shots on his shoulder, pronounced himself fine.

"I didn't feel anything. My shoulder is good. No problems. I was injured back in November; if it hasn't healed my now, it's not going to heal."

The Maxwell club didn't blink either, naming Quizz as one of 8 Pac-10 players, and 55 nationwide, to make their watch list for the national player of the year award.

The other names from the Pac-10, most of which have joined Quizz on most other lists for nationwide awards, include:

Jahvid Best, RB, California

LeGarrette Blount, RB, Oregon

Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Arizona

Jake Locker, QB, Washington

Jeremiah Masoli, QB, Oregon

Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Oregon State

Damian Williams, WR, USC

Quizz's constant motion was in game form, as seen in video from "Reese TV". John Reese posted a YouTube Video that Paul Buker wrote about that is blurry, but gives a good idea of just how much of a blur Quizz is for opposing defenses.

Coach Riley summed up the moves afterwards.

"One of the best things he does, even if the play is stopped at the line of scrimmage, he never stops. He keeps going, and he makes every player on the defense keep playing. He keeps making moves on guys all the way down the field. I really think that is great for everybody.

I know why he is doing it. He's practicing the game. He's practicing all those game situations, whether it's at the line of scrimmage, on the edge, or out in the open field."

While Quizz is practicing his moves, the Beaver's defense has to practice reining him in.

"It's really good for the defense, too," Riley feels.

The elder Rodgers brother, WR James, wasn't quite so fortunate, missed practice with a sore right knee. Coach Mike Riley said the Beavers would be cautious with the elder Rodgers, who starts at flanker and returns kicks.

"I'd rather let what ever is bothering James' knee settle down than push it too fast."

Safetys Lance Mitchell and Anthony Watkins also sat out Friday with a sore hamstring.

As a result of the injuries, true freshman Jordan Poyer out of Astoria stepped in on defense, and had a break-up and a multiple interceptions.

Riley was pleased.

"Jordan Poyer is just an athlete. He's a heck of a baseball player, and a basketball player. All those athletic instincts are there. And he's got good ability. I think he made four interceptions today in the course of practice. And this is what, his fifth day of practice?"

Another true freshman turned heads as well, as Marcus Wheaton worked at length with the first unit offense, as Riley has to figure out whether to redshirt or unleash his talented newcomers.

"Markus doesn't know what he's doing out there yet, but whenever he does something and gets the ball, it's pretty impressive," Riley remarked after practice. "He is very talented. The question will come, 'are you going to redshirt him or not.' It's too early to know. But he's got a lot of ability. He's very fast. We'll take a good look at that too."

It wasn't just the new kids that had a good practice though, as WR Darrell Catchings had the best catch of the day when he stretched out to snare a pass with one hand.

In other Pac-10 news, California, led by another all-everything RB in Jahvid Best, and QB Kevin Riley from Beaverton, is previewed by the Sporting News, and is #21 in their pre-season ratings. (Hint, the Beavers will be inside the top 20, as Texas Tech is in at 20.

Things aren't looking so good for Arizona, though, as first team all-Pac-10 TE Rob Gronkowski is out indefinately, with a strained back, as reported by Ted Miller.

Upgrade/Downgrade - Safety

Jake Bertalotto — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:00:14 -0000

We continue in the secondary, where Al Afalava (36 career starts) ad Greg Laybourn (15) depart. The good news is that Suaesi Tuimaunei has made strides to replace Afalava at free safety, and Lance Mitchell looks like the guy to replace Laybourn, who led OSU in tackles last season with 113.