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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)

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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

Wild Flying Beaver Highlights First Half

AndyPanda — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:51 -0000

The "Wild Flying Beaver" came out of mad scientist Mike Riley's lab on Halloween, and considering the Beavers were only able to get Justin Kahut field goal attempts out of five of their other six scoring opportunities, it turned out to be critical to Oregon State's 26-19 win over UCLA.

With 1:12 left before halftime, the Beavers faced second and two on the Bruins' 14, with only a 6-0 lead, despite controlling the first half, Jacquizz Rodgers threw his first career pass.

"I thought he threw a perfect spiral," Riley said afterwards. "The guys had been giving him a hard time, because it didn't look that good in practice."

Brady Camp was wide open for the touchdown.

Rodgers had assured Riley he was good for up to 40 yards throwing, but Camp couldn't believe it when heard the play called in the huddle.

'Wait a minute, is this for real?' Camp said to himself as the Beavers lined up in a dual tight end formation, one Oregon State usually runs out of, Wildcat formation or not.

Tight ends Brady Camp (83) and Howard Croom (88) celebrate the touchdown.

"I can't believe it actually worked," said Camp, with a big grin.

Riley told reporters afterward that the play would be wide open when we went to it.

But do we have a quarterback controversy?

Despite completing 26 of 35 passes (74 %) for 319 yards and a touchdown, Sean Canfield's quarterback rating didn't match Quizz's perfect passing performance.

"I went to him on the bench and asked him if he was trying to take my job," Canfield said.

The play started a sequence that had to be scary for the Bruins, and helped build a lead the Beavers would need every part of when UCLA mounted their scary rally.

Bruins quarterback Kevin Prince fired consecutive incompletions on the ensuing series, and then connected with Gavin Ketchum for only a four yard gain, forcing the Bruins to punt. More importantly, only 27 seconds were consumed.

Canfield connected with James Rodgers for a 42 yard completion,

... and Kahut connected on his third first half field goal from 27 yards out as time ran out. Kahut added a fourth field goal in the fourth quarter, and earned the Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Week honor in the process.

Speaking of flying, how impressive would it be if Horizon Air could arrange to fly the Beavers to a bowl game in their OSU themed jet?

Halftime was a 'Thriller', complete with the apparent demise of the band...

...and the presence of zombies...

...the resurection of the band...

, and the Michael Jackson tribute, with 215 right gloves off.

Even Benny had the appropriate hair do.

Oregon St. Game Day Notes

Paragon SC — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:41:46 -0000

Some are calling tonight's game a grudge match or a revenge game...

I do not see it that way at all. This is just another tough Pac-10 match-up. Oregon St. has proven to be a solid football program coached by one of the more underrated coaches in Mike Riley. Like USC sometimes does they get off to slow starts but always seem to finish strong.

It is not surprising that some feel that Oregon St. beating USC two out of the three previous seasons gives the Beavers some confidence. I can see where it would but those wins came in Corvallis not at the Coliseum.

Jacquizz Rodgers realizes he will be a marked man Saturday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The fourth-ranked Trojans have had more than a year to ponder a loss that ultimately kept them out of the BCS national championship game.

Whether last year's defeat provides added incentive for USC remains to be seen. It could work in OSU's favor, as well.
"It's confidence that USC can be beaten," said Jacquizz Rodgers, who is ninth in the nation in rushing. "We can't live off what we did last year, but it's possible that they can be beaten."

Last Year USC really didn't have any clue about Jacquizz Rodgers but they found out quickly about his abilities in that disaster in Corvallis. USC made some decent 2nd half adjustments that kept Rodgers to only 60 yards rushing in the second half. But SC was playing catch-up the whole game and they and you could tell they were just not their typical dominant selves.

Sure, OSU has some confidence because they have proven they can beat SC. But it isn't like The Beavers own us...especially not at the Coliseum. If I am OSU I would use those past wins as a road map as well but USC is mindful of their deficiencies from last year and USC will move the chess pieces on the board accordingly.

This is not a revenge game...at least not in the coaches' eyes.

Pete Carroll doesn't play it that way...

USC coach Pete Carroll didn't get frothy this week reminding his players what happened last year at Oregon State. He didn't rant and rave about how the Beavers took something from the Trojans and made them look bad on national television in a 27-21 defeat.

"We've never used that," Carroll said. "We don't use last year or the years before for anything. It's clear to our guys that this is the team that got us last year and all that. That's nothing new. That's just the facts. I'm not going to spend any time on it."

Just the facts: If USC had not lost last year at Oregon State, it would have played for the national title. And it almost certainly would have been favored to win Carroll's third championship.

The players on the other hand could be a little more focused...

SC has some things going for them in this game when it comes to the Beavers defense...

First, how will Oregon State's pass defense contain the rapidly improving Matt Barkley, who passed for 380 yards and two touchdowns at Notre Dame?

The Beavers rank ninth in the Pac-10 in pass defense -- though they are fourth in pass efficiency defense -- and have struggled to pressure opposing quarterbacks. Their four sacks rank 116th in the nation.

All four starters in the secondary from last year were replaced as well as both defensive ends.

"I think the secondary may actually be the strength of their team," USC receiver Damian Williams said. "They run well. They play great press defense. Their coaches have a lot of confidence in them. They put them out there on an island and tell them to go to work."

I expect the Beavers secondary to up for this game but the rest of the information above is telling...

Barkley does not have to air it out, he can go underneath.

Here is little more.

The second issue for Oregon State is how its young offensive line will match up against a USC front that ranks No. 1 in the nation with 26 sacks and fourth in the nation in run defense (68 yards per game).

That line has surrendered 19 sacks, which ranks ninth in the conference.

That means Rodgers needs to make plays in the running game, because the Beavers probably can't win if they don't obtain a modicum of offensive balance.

As far as the passing game, this will be a big road test for Sean Canfield. The senior wasn't the quarterback of record in last year's game -- that belonged to now-backup Lyle Moevao -- and playing USC on the road obviously offers some unique challenges.

Yet Canfield, much like his ascending team, appears to be peaking at the right time.

It is a challenge but Canfield is playing some very solid football right now. SC got to Canfield in the 2007 game at the Coliseum, hitting him hard on one play by Will that ended up costing him the following season so he has some extra motivation to play out of his mind. This Beavers O line, while talented is not quite as good as last season but they will come to play. They will also see a very different defensive line from USC, with the different rotations that SC will throw at OSU. Seeing Griffen, Perry, Armstead and Casey coming your way could be very intimidating and it could make it a big challenge for the Beavers O line.

You can thank Jethro Franklin for that...

USC deployed 10 defensive linemen in its victory over the Fighting Irish, depth that enabled the Trojans to bring fresh pressure that resulted in five sacks.

USC enters today's game against Oregon State ranked first nationally in sacks and second in tackles for losses.

"In terms of production," Coach Pete Carroll said, "I'm surprised we're this far out there numbers-wise."

Trojans defensive linemen are not.

To a man, they credit Franklin, who is in his second tour of duty at USC.

In a program that preaches competition for playing time, the defensive line is the one position group that consistently rewards weekday effort on Saturday.

I think we are amazed at the production of the defensive line. These guys are monsters and if they can contain 'Quizz then it will be along night for the Beavers...but they HAVE to contain him.

I think SC linebackers will also "stay at home" and not overrun plays like we saw Rey do a few times last season. It hink that helps the D line do their thing. The secondary has some work to do as well when it comes to defending James Rodgers and Howard Croom...Rodgers has had a good season so far as well. Croom has put a target on his back with some comments he recently made.

Howard Croom, a tight end from Long Beach, Calif., thinks the Beavers get extra hyped to play USC. Maybe that's why he said the following to Trojan defensive end Everson Griffen.

"I was blocking him all night," Croom recalled. "Coach was on us last year about finishing through the whistle, don't stop even if they get mad. I kept blocking him real hard and he got mad. He was holding onto my arm when we were walking to the next play and I hit it down. He looked at me and said, 'You're terrible.'

"I said, 'Yeah, I'm terrible, nobody knows me and you're an All-American -- and I'm handling you right now.'"

Croom, who grew up a USC fan, said last year's win meant a little extra something for him and the other players from Southern California.

"We weren't good enough (for them)," Croom said, "but we were good enough on (Thursday night)."

Mike Riley can't be too happy if he saw that article...Don't think the players won't remember that passage...

Moving on.

I don't think this game is cake walk but I do think SC wins, but SC will not cover the spread. SC has to stay focused and not let the emotion of the game get to them like we saw last week in South Bend.

This should be an interesting one!