2002 Football OSU vs USC WAS THAT A NIGHTMARE OR WHAT??? Man, I had the worst dream the other day. I was listening to the Oregon State game on radio from the comforting confines of Detroit Lake Oregon with my family and several other Beavers fans in the area of our campsite. When all of a sudden reality slipped away and the nightmare began. My beloved Oregon State Beavers could not complete a pass, they could not run the ball, they looked lost on offense, the defense played well but just could not keep it going for the whole game with the offense doing nothing. It was awful! I kept going over to the mirror to check and see if I had long hair and glazed over eyes like I had in the seventies when I was at OSU, thinking that I was reliving the nightmare that was football then. I kept straining at the screen to see if Joe Avezzano was standing on the sidelines coaching the team. Where is Eric Wilhelm? Where is Dee Andros? Where are the bright orange uniforms of Dave Kragthorpe? Who are these players? What's going on? Why do I still look 44 in the mirror if I am reliving something that happened when I was 20? Finally I realized that I was not dreaming, but it was still a nightmare. It was 2002 and the Oregon State Football team over the last 7 days had somehow stepped through some type of time machine, sending them back to 1980 and the lackluster and most times, just plain awful football was on display. Where was the offense that was second in the nation in scoring? Where was the PAC-10's leading rusher? Where was the #2 quarterback in the nation in passing efficiency? OH THE HORROR? Thankfully I turned it off late in the third quarter hoping that it was really a dream and that somehow, by turning it off they may find themselves again and when I read the paper in the morning they will have won. NO SUCH LUCK! As the swelling and bruising on my forehead slowing goes down from me pounding my head against any object close at hand, trees, my car, the trailer (you get the picture) trying to drive the vision of what was happening out of my mind (I was sure someone in the campground was going to call 911 from all the wails, moans and screams coming from the area of my campsite thinking someone had been seriously injured). I am finally starting to see things in a more detached perspective. So now that I have obeyed the orders of my psychiatrist and expressed my feelings openly, I may continue. This will be short in order to ease the pain. BEAVERS ENTER THE TWIGHTZONE AND LOSE TO USC 22-0!! Yes the Beavers proved mortal on Saturday and were sent crashing down to earth in the rudest of manners by USC in losing 22-0. They were outplayed in every aspect of the game, both sides of the ball. There is no real need to break it down into details, they got beat everywhere. It was similar to what had taken place last year at Fresno State only worse. Nation TV, big game of the week, big expectations, then BOOM! Reality bursts in. Hopefully this is just a wobble in the timeline of the season. A young team getting to overconfident after a good start and not listening to what they are being coached. However there are some very real problems that have arisen. The offensive line is hurting and in trouble. For the second straight week a left tackle has gone down to injury, leaving the Beavers with only the third string freshman at that position. Erickson will juggling players from other positions on the line to fill the gapping hole that exists at left tackle. This is not good. The offensive line is what makes things happen. Without a solid line the passing game will not have time, and the running game will not have the holes it needs to make the plays. Erickson will have to do something and fast in order to patch things up. Derek Anderson, how will he respond to be beaten up all day long. Sacked 5 times and hits more times then we can count. How will this effect his confidence as UCLA looms on the horizon this Saturday.
POST GAME BY THE NUMBERS
THE POLLS Oregon State has dropped to 28 in the coaches poll and 32nd in the AP Poll. FINAL WORD The Beavers are still a good team and still have a shot at the PAC-10 title. However, they need to take last Saturday as a wakeup call that the real season has started and that they are in perhaps the toughest football conference in the nation, and the meat of the season. They need work harder to be prepared every week. With UCLA being ranked right behind us in both polls, this game will once again be tough. Dennis had better get these boys fired up to play like men. NEXT GAME Look for my breakdown of the next Beavers game on Thursday and you can read all the previous game comments on the Beaver Fan site located on this site. BFS |
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