I don't know if many people were able to watch last night's basketball game over the web feed, but it wasn't a good result to say the least.  The Beavs went down 61 to 63  to the then 1 and 6 UIC (Ill. Chicago) Flames in the last seconds of the game.  The Beavs shot almost 55% from the field and were additionally 4-12 from 3 point land, and also shot a fairly impressive 75% from the free throw line.  BUT some very uninspired and sloppy play on the Beavs part doomed the effort.  Mr. Robo Cop (Robo Kreps) seems like a pretty good player, but the Beavs let him have way too many open looks, and too many of those looks were close to the rim.  This will not do when the team starts to play deeper teams such as those found in the Pac-10.

Yes, yes I know the Pac is down this year and all, but this performance was not inspiring at all as the Beavs go into their last two games before traveling to the Washington schools to start conference play. I know this all seems a bit bleak on my part, so let's chalk it up to being too close to that loss last night, for I really think this team can be a good one, but...

My continued thoughts and more game numbers after the break.

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Warning non-football analyst and football fan only thoughts to follow:

In some of my previous comments I went on lyrically about how there is this fog of mystery that lingers around this Riley football program, which just never quite seems to lift; and I also heavily implied that I had a good feeling we were going to win this game and finally go to the Rose Bowl.  Now that the game is done and we sitting with yet another L, and for the second year coming up short, I have to say I was a bit wrong about both.

First, that fog.  Sure it hasn't lifted for me and I'm not sure yet this program has reached "elite" Pac-10 status, but at the same time this game did clear some of it for me.  After watching that gutty and skilled performance I believe that this program is indeed another step closer.   Now a good question here is:  Well, maybe, but don't we always seem to say this after a bittersweet loss with Riley's teams?  I think this is a good question, and leads into why I'm not as disappointed as I thought I would be and really relates to the second point I made before the game.

Second, that "good" feeling.  Okay so I was wrong, the team did not win, but I tell you what if Canfield gets the ball back with any reasonable amount of time, and I'm talking anything more than 45 seconds.  Exaggeration?  Just take a look at that drive at the end of the half to get an idea why I'm so confident.  And if the Beavs are only down 4 or 8 points, which looked possible, he is driving the team to a winning or tying score.  The Beavs played on the big stage and they showed up, sure it wasn't perfect otherwise we fans would be booking Pasadena travel plans right now, but they were as good as the Ducks were and it came down to the team that was able to have the ball in their hands at the very end.  I think the future is bright.

My more specific game thoughts after the break.

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Barack Obama Basketball PHOTOS: Obama Family Attends Oregon State-George Washington Game

President Obama attended today's Oregon State-George Washington University basketball game to cheer on his brother-in-law, Beavers coach Craig Robinson. The first lady, Malia and Sasha Obama, and President Obama's mother-in-law Marian Robinson were in attendance as well. According to the AP, the family was "intensely interested in the outcome." All of the cheering paid off, as Oregon State won, 64-57. Below, see photos of the Obamas rooting for the Beavers.

Hmm, is it that time of the year again?  Am I hearing the drums of hyperbole and unintended oxymorons in many people's reasoning? Oh, yes, I suppose I heard there is some game this Thursday.

Okay, seriously (although I was seriously tempted to call this post "The Fun Czar Strikes Back," okay not really), I wanted to take a moment and look back at some of the recent Civil War games (the good ones!).

I welcome other people's memories of the previous games between OSU and UO, yes even you UO fans, and what do you remember most?  I also included a poll of games since 1998.

RVM's memories, yes I had to dig deep into what's left of my short to mid-term memory on some of these, are after the break, oh and a special good ol' time bit of smack I dug up from my archive file.

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Well that wasn't the best result for what was really the first home game of the year was it?

Being at the game here are my brief impressions, and I'm sure BtD will discuss this game in more detail later this week,

First, I thought the crowd was there for the team and was pretty loud when Cincy had the ball.  A good number of false starts can be attributed to the crowd noise.  And for the safety I really felt the crowd and defense fed off of each other.

Defense, I felt the D actually played well, especially considering the team they were playing.  The defense held Cincinnati to 28 points total and only a TD in the second half, setting up the offense to win it (but alas, see below).  I think the main problem was defensive penetration for the QB had a lot of time to throw and this put a ton of pressure on the corners who had to deal with some excellent throws.  It is tough though and seeing the spread offense in person you can see how it poses such an issue for our up-front defensive line and linebackers.

Offense, hmm they sure looked ready to take control of this game and then went flat with those stupid penalties, and Cincinnati figured something out and put a lot of pressure on Canfield.  Have to admit Canfield has underwhelmed me so far this year, sure he looked fine against PSU but that was PSU.  He needs to release the ball quicker and with more confidence, needs to get the balls down so the receivers don't have to leave their feet so much, and needs to stop looking so much for the Rodgers brothers.  The Rodgers brothers are great, no mistaking, but the team does need to look beyond them if this team is going to do anything this year.  I think I argued a little in a previous thread about we need them as the to go to guys, but this game it seemed overkill and looked to me that Cincy had them keyed in on and didn't have to worry about anyone else (Cincinnati is not bad on defense by-the-way).  We need to expand the field and get Canfield to throw quicker, give him a bit more time (if he gets sacked once he gets jumpy), and start throwing beyond 10 yards.  I again think this offense has a lot of talent (unlike what some of the fans I sat around seem to think) but we need to start getting them involved.

Special teams, well besides Cincinnati never kicking the ball to James it was a solid special teams afternoon.  Hekker has improved over last year a lot.  And the FGs were true all the way from the contact, and Kahut had no problem with the PAT.

Overall, it was not a season ending game by any means but it was disappointing, and there are still a good number of issues to get worked out going into the Pac-10 season. Arizona is a good first conference game, I think, for we have them at home and they are struggling, but once that game happens (a must win conference game IMO) it gets very hard.  The conference could well be up for grabs but that also means going to be a lot of tough games this year, maybe no gimmes (except for WSU, but how about them Cougs!  I take pride in calling that one!).

Go Beavs!