SB Nation - Ryan McCants

2009 Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs. Oregon State

sroufe — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:33:15 -0000

More photos » by Greg Wahl-Stephens - AP

Oregon State sophomore RB Jacquizz Rodgers (1) has run for 1,377 yards (13th in the nation) and 20 touchdowns this season. Rodgers, his brother James and Beavers QB Sean Canfield are three of the biggest offensive weapons in the Pac-10. (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens)

Browse more photos »

The VTF bowl scenario poll overwhelmingly reflected a desire for the Cougars to go up against USC - whether it was in Las Vegas or San Diego. But while some might be a bit disappointed for not drawing the Trojans, it's not like Oregon State is some kind of consolation prize. They are an excellent football team and will be a tough opponent. The No. 16 Beavers are the second-highest ranked team in the Pac-10 and narrowly missed playing in the Rose Bowl when they turned the ball over on downs (on the Oregon 28 yard line) late in the fourth quarter and lost 37-33 in the Civil War.

The Beavers won at Cal, and lost close games to Arizona, Cincinnati and USC. In fact, their loss at USC is their only loss this season to a currently unranked school. Interestingly, Oregon State also came to Sam Boyd Stadium earlier this season and squeaked out a win over a feisty UNLV program.

We'll discuss the Beavers more as the bowl game approaches, but for now let's be very, very pleased with this result. The program gets a larger payout than playing in the Poinsettia, probably a greater home field advantage than playing Arizona or UCLA in prior years, and there is the intriguing angle of Mendenhall coaching against his alma mater. This is exciting!

GO COUGARS!!!

Official Announcement - BYU Athletics

"Building the Dam" - Oregon State Blog at SB Nation

Oregon State statistics after the jump...

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Sean Canfield	12	103.0	284	406	70	3103	258.6	7.6	21	6	46	-161	-13.4	-3.5	1	-	-
Ryan Katz	3	60.0	12	21	57.1	186	62	8.9	0	0	7	-7	-2.3	-1	0	-	-
Lyle Moevao	1	0.0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Sean Canfield	12	46	-161	-13.4	-3.5	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jordan Jenkins	1	2	6	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan Katz	3	7	-7	-2.3	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan McCants	4	6	25	6.3	4.2	0	1	4	1	4	0
James Rodgers	12	54	289	24.1	5.4	0	87	1004	83.7	11.5	9
Jacquizz Rodgers	12	255	1377	114.8	5.4	20	74	509	42.4	6.9	1
Jovan Stevenson	7	25	136	19.4	5.4	1	5	59	8.4	11.8	0
Markus Wheaton	8	11	79	9.9	7.2	1	7	77	9.6	11	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Damola Adeniji	12	49	701	58.4	14.3	4
Jordan Bishop	6	11	135	22.5	12.3	1
Brady Camp	5	5	40	8	8	2
Darrell Catchings	2	2	24	12	12	0
Howard Croom	1	1	4	4	4	0
Joe Halahuni	11	34	474	43.1	13.9	3
Casey Kjos	5	8	68	13.6	8.5	1
Ryan McCants	4	1	4	1	4	0
Aaron Nichols	7	11	176	25.1	16	1
Colby Prince	1	1	12	12	12	0
James Rodgers	12	87	1004	83.7	11.5	9
Jacquizz Rodgers	12	74	509	42.4	6.9	1
Jovan Stevenson	7	5	59	8.4	11.8	0
Kevan Walker	1	1	16	16	16	0
Markus Wheaton	8	7	77	9.6	11	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Justin Kahut	12	-	-	-	-	-	22	27	80.0%	43	44	100.0%	109

Team Stats - Game Averages

	Pts	Yrds	Pass	Rush
Offense	10.2	419.4	275.3	144.2

Fall Camp Questions - Running Back

Jake Bertalotto — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:22:41 -0000

Jovan Stevenson entered the OSU program in the same recruiting class as Jacquizz Rodgers, but grey-shirted in 2008 to put separation between the two. Now, in 2009, with Ryan McCants battling a knee injury, he looks like a viable option to be the backup to Quizz. But he can also re-shirt to save a year of eligibility. What would you do? (Photo by Ethan Erickson)

View full size photo »

The Beavers enter fall camp with one of the best running backs in the Pac-10 at 100%, but beyond Jacquizz Rodgers, there are some real questions. Mike Riley assured media and fans last week at Pac-10 Media Day that Rodgers (both of them, actually) would be healthy going into camp, but there are still some questions revolving around the returning Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year himself.

First of all, the man hasn't taken a hit in a long time. And doesn't it have to worry you that the hit he took in the Arizona game wasn't even that violent? Look, Quizz is a tough runner, and not much is going to slow him down... unless he comes up with a nagging injury, like a shoulder, that's going to keep him out of games. His between-the-tackles running style isn't quite condusive to staying healthy, but we saw him take hits time and time again in the first part of last season, and be perfectly fine.

Look, the Beavers are a running team. They want to give Quizz the ball. In 2008, the Beavers ran the football 37 times per game. In 2007, the final year of the Yvenson Bernard era, the Beavers rushed the ball 42 times. Bernard played in 11 games, carrying the ball an average of 25 times per game. In 2008, in the 11 games that Jacquizz played in, he carried the ball an average of 24 times per game. So obviously, Jacquizz can take a heavy chunk of the ballcarrying and still produce results. I don't really think stamina or endurance is a question. It's just a matter of fighting through taking hits all games long, which I believe he can, unless he just takes a medoicre hit in the wrong place, like last year at Arizona. But you have to think that Pac-10 defenders will try to tee off on his left shoulder.

Long story short: I'm not worried about Quizz's durability, or worried about him having problems "getting up" after being knocked down 30 times per game. I think the hit he took in the Arizona game was an anomaly, but it's still going to stick out in my mind moving forward.

Now, the question becomes who fills in at #2 on the depth chart. Ryan McCants, who entered 2008 as the starter until Quizz took the nation by storm, will be on the sidelines for fall camp--or at least most of it. That leaves Jovan Stevenson and Ashton Jefferson, two freshman who are unproven but have the potential to get it done.

You have to wonder what this discussion would be like had McCants not injured his knee in Spring practice. Even with a healthy McCants, it seems like things would still be interesting as Stevenson and Jefferson try to creep up the depth chart. McCants just hasn't impressed in practice... and if he's not impressing in practice, how is he going to impress in games? Even Riley and Kristick were talking about a particular scrimmage in fall camp last year where Quizz took a draw play up the middle, between the safties before they could converage, 60 yards for a touchdown. Then he came right back and took a screen pass 60 more yards for a touchdown. McCants just needs to show some spark. He needs a break-out moment. I doubt we'll be seeing him beat safties while running up the middle, but we just need to see something, anything from him. Because I don't know that he's going to get a lot of respect on the field until that happens. And he won't get a chance to prove that he's better than Stevenson or Jefferson while standing on the sidelines. It will probably be mid to late August at the earliest before he even can try to come back.

Just due the the simple fact that Stevenson grayshirted and has been in the program gives him the edge over Jefferson... but it might be just because we've seen him before. Stevenson is a guy who the Beavers would like to redshirt this year in order to put more separation in-between him and Rodgers. Just reading about Jovan's recruitment tells you that he's a guy with all the drive, determination, and dedication needed to succeed on this level, because here's a guy who didn't even think he would be playing college football after high school. Coach Cavauangh found him while he was recruiting someone else. His upside with his good vision, speed, and ability to make people miss in space makes me excited to see him on the field this year, but it seems like the coaches still want to hold out on him for another year. But with McCants questionable, redshirting Stevenson and rolling with McCants as the back-up may put too much pressure on Rodgers.

Ashton Jefferson is a guy with a bit more size than Rodgers and Stevenson, who is known more as a "slasher." He enters fall camp as a freshman, and is another guy that the coaching staff will need to make a decision on. Out of Alvin, Texas, his high school numbers are just gaudy... 1,565 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 0 fumbles in 261 carries a senior, with three 200+ yard games. He looks promising, but again, he's unproven.

If you're coach Riley and had to make a decision now, who do you red-shirt? Who do you have as your back-up going into the September 5 opener?

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

What the Hekker? Initial thoughts on OSU's 3-0 Sun Bowl victory

Jake Bertalotto — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:08:27 -0000

In what resembled a MLB game, or a bad hockey game, or a soccer game, or a 2nd grade youth basketball game, the Beavers beat Pittsburgh 3-0 in the 75th Brut Sun Bowl.

The last time Oregon State won 3-0 was against USC in 1967.

The Trojans came to town with O.J. Simpson, with everyone assuming that the Beavers would just be another featherweight in the path of USC claiming the national championship and going undefeated.

In that game, it all boiled down to a second-quarter field goal by Oregon State kicker Mike Haggard. Of his three attempts, a 30-yarder with 5:18 left before halftime was the only one he made.

In the 2008 Sun Bowl, Justin Kahut (now pronounced kay-HUT, by the way) made a field goal with 2:18 left in the first half.

The similarities between the two games are quite interesting.

"The whole game I didn't think that field goal would hold up," then-OSU coach Dee Andros said of the 1967 game in an interview with The Oregonian years later. "The conditions didn't bother O.J. a bit, and it was just a well-played defensive game by both teams."

Oregon State won the Sun Bowl due in a large part to their defense, which held LeSean McCoy to 78 yards on 24 carries in the game.

My schedule didn't allow for me to watch the game live, so I had to resort to watching the game off of my DVR several hours later. I will now spew out my thoughts stream-of-consciousness style, so I apologize in advance for poor grammar and anything that is unclear.

Offense: Coming into the game, we knew we would have to rely heavily on the passing game. Without Jacquizz being effective, the Beavers offense isn't the same. I had an inking that it could turn into a game where we throw the ball 50+ times, but after I watched Lyle throw his first pass of the game not even close to intended receiver Ryan McCants, I knew we were in for a long game.

I didn't think Lyle played particular well, but I know the wind was a large factor. There were a number of passes in which our receivers were wide open and had to make diving catches, negating yards after the catch, but Lyle has been doing that in almost every game this season.

We really needed our running backs to step up, and I thought they did fairly well. Nothing spectacular, but I don't think we expected a tremendous performance from either McCants or Francis. Like Lyle's incompletion that I was talking about above, another bad omen that came at the beginning of the game was McCants' fumble on his first carry. All in all, 99 yards between McCants and Francis isn't bad. This game was clearly a defensive battle, and Pitt's defense played well. That being said, Oregon State misfired a bunch-- twice, the Beavers took the ball inside Pitt's ten yard line and came away with no points.

Defense: The defense clearly won this game for us. Coming into the game, I thought that it would be very difficult to hold Pittsburgh to zero points. I seemed to think that Pitt would score several touchdowns even if we played great defense, and our offense would have to score to win the game. However, it worked the opposite way, and Oregon State won by keeping Pittsburgh out of the end zone.

Our defensive line was outstanding. Victor Butler, Slade Norris, and Stephen Paea all did a great job of leading the defense in dominating Pitt's offensive line all game. And when Pittsburgh did try to throw the ball, OSU's secondary stepped up. Pitt QB Bill Stull only completed (correction... 7) of 24 passes for 52 yards, and when he got hurt, backup QB Pat Bostick completed two passes for 37 yards. Both of Bostick's completions came on the final Pitt drive when the Panthers needed to get into field goal position to attempt a field goal to tie.

Thinking back on the game, I can only remember one time that Al Afalava was involved on a tackle. The box score indicates that he had one solo tackle and one assisted tackle, but I can only remember him tackling LeSean McCoy late in the game. Really, it seemed like our front seven just stuffed Pitt's rushing attack to the point that the secondary didn't have to make many tackles.

Special Teams: The game wouldn't have gone the same way it did without the performance of the defense, but our special teams were outstanding as well. For Hekker to punt the ball ten times and average 45 yards is phenomenal, especially considering where he was at the beginning of the season. And he was drilling kicks into the wind. Punting wasn't a liability today, it was an asset.

We can't end this conversation without talking about Kahut, who made the eventual game-winning kick in the second quarter. And also, kudos goes to Taylor Kavanaugh, who got the snap down after bobbling the football. Even if Kahut did kick the laces, it showed how disciplined the Perry-Kavanaugh-Kahut combination is.

Anything else I forgot? Chime in below.

GO BEAVERS!

(Sorry buthol, "What the Hekker" was too good to pass on.)

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

A look over the offensive numbers

Jake Bertalotto — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:45:05 -0000

Have you come crashing down from your post-Beaver-victory high yet?

Team Offense: 17 first downs, 166 rushing yards, 224 passing yards, 390 total yards, 0 turnovers, 6.0 yards per play.

Sean Canfield: 20/32, 224 yards, 1 TD

I thought Sean played a great good enough game, especially in the second half when it mattered. He got off to a slow start, and still was off target on a few balls, but for the most part, he did what he needed to do. There was the one brutal pass in which he sidestepped an Arizona defensive lineman like a matador, then heaved a wobbly spiral into the heart of the Arizona secondary. It all worked out in the end, but he got extremely lucky.

I liked Canfield's ability to go downfield in the game. The pass to James that was dropped was right on the money. The deep bomb to Sammie down the sideline was underthrown, but that might have been beneficial to the Beavs. If Sean hits Sammie in stride, he walks into the end zone and the Beavers score with 0:40 on the clock. And then we must play defense to prevent a touchdown, a la Utah, a la ASU.

James Rodgers: 10 rushes, 102 yards, 1 TD. 2 catches, 9 yards.

A 41 yard touchdown reception would have made James' line look that much better, but we definitely need to stop talking about that. The fly sweep was resurrected tonight in Tucson, just in time for us to torture the UO secondary with it next week. This was good to see, because teams have done a pretty good job of shutting down the fly sweep this season. Perhaps they're finding ways to stop it, but stopping both Rodgers seems to be what teams are struggling with. For most of the game, Arizona only had one Rodgers to stop, and they couldn't even do that.

Sammie "TNT" Stroughter: 5 catches, 116 yards.

Okay, so maybe the nickname won't stick. But I loved how pumped up Sammie got after making the 47 yard catch that set the Beavers up to win the game. That catch was huge, but equally as important was the 4 yard slant pattern that he turned into a 34 yard gain (on third down) after gravity robbed James Rodgers of a touchdown on the play prior. That set the Beavers up for a touchdown, which Sammie caught amidst a swarm of Wildcats in the end zone. The Versus angle didn't really show what Sammie did to get open, but have you ever seen The Matrix? I'm just sayin'. The line of scrimmage was the seven yard line, and judging by how much time elapsed while Sean rolled out to his left, one would think it would be difficult to hide from defenders contained in such a small space.

Ryan McCantsStopTheBeavers: 15 rushes, 54 yards.

I was generally impressed with Ryan. It seems like he had phases of effectiveness when he was getting 2-4 extra yards per carry, sort of like Quizz does on a regular basis. And then there were times where he rumbled for a ton of extra yards with guys all over him. But there were also times when I felt like he couldn't get out of the backfield, and if he did, he was underachieving by not scrapping for extra yards. It's nice to know that we have a nice back to complement Quizz (a change of pace, per se), but it's also nice to know that he can makes some things happen on his own.

Jeremy Francis: 1 rush, 2 yards. 7 catches, 61 yards, 1 awesome lateral.

It never really struck me until tonight how much Francis looks like Yvenson Bernard. There was a point in the game (it was the play where he got lit up by a UA defender) where I seriously did a double take becasue I thought it was Bernard making a catch. I think it's the hair...

Great job by Francis, especially in the closing minutes of the game when he picked up the first 25 yards of Oregon State's game-winning drive. I present the unsung play of the game award to Francis for the heads up move to lateral the ball to James Rodgers on the ball he caught over the middle- I don't want to think about what would have happened had we not stopped the clock there.

Jacquizz Rodgers: 4 rushes, 20 yards

Watching the first quarter replay off my DVR reminded me of just how good this guy is. He only rushed the ball four times before he exited due to injury on a pass, (Remember his quote, coach Riley? He said "I don't get happy, I just run the ball". If it's not runnin' the ball, Quizz doesn't do it. So don't throw the ball to him anymore!) but they were good runs. Especially the nine yarder. Not the best, I realize, but watching those replays made me want more Quizz! Heal it up this week, buddy!

And how about the beard Langsdorf has accumulated, too sexy?

Brett Favre discusses his newest Wranglers commercial and the benefits of wearing jeans while playing touch football

Poll

No Shave November:

Good idea, past the itchy stage

68 votes

Bad idea...mine isn't coming in quite as well as I'd hoped

9 votes

It's BURNING--that's how you know it's working!!!

8 votes

85 votes | Poll has closed