IT'S TIME TO PLAY SOME FOOTBALL!

Our beloved Beavers open the 2002-2003 football season one week from today (august 29th) at 7pm on a Thursday night against Eastern Kentucky. The Beavers are a new look team for this season with some very familiar faces missing from the backfield. 

This season the Beavers will be led by Sophomores Derek Anderson and Steven Jackson. The Beavers offense is full of talent but has yet to prove itself under fire. Next Thursday all the practice, sweat, video, drills, and more sweat will be put to that test as the Beavers take the field for the first time. 

When a new team takes the field for the first time a lot of things will, no doubt, be going through the minds of each and every one of them. It is time to show what you have learned to the world, and this world will be watching. 

More then just a football season is riding on this and the other 11 games the Beavers will be playing this year. Oregon State hopes to keep pace with the other big schools and do a 100 million dollar expansion of Reser Stadium in the next three years. For that to happen the Beavers need to fill the seats for every home game and have a waiting list of season ticket buyers lined up. How to do this? WIN! It is a must for the Beavers to not only win but make it back to not just a bowl but a good bowl. To do that the team must come together quickly and get 4 quick preseason wins to be ready for the Pac-10 schedule to start.

Their first games puts them up against Eastern Kentucky. EKU is Division 1-AA and is ranked No. 11 in the I-AAfootball.com and No. 14 in The Sports Network. EKU is a ball control ground attack offense that uses the pass as a means of opening up the run. The EKU running game had twice the yards in 2001 as the passing game. Their defense dominated the opponents holding them to 86.7 yards rushing per game and 176 yards passing per game. EKU averaged 32 points per game and gave up only 15.5 ppg. Going "Buy the Numbers", EKU has the advantage in the game, winning 8 of 11 categories reviewed.

All this said, the Beavers should be the better team but have shown a tendency to come out of the gates slowly in previous years and making some early games very close by not playing very well. If that happens next Thursday the Beavers could lose this game if not careful. 

It is with much sadness that I cannot attend the opening game next week and will be hard pressed to even hear it on the radio. (I will be doing the good father thing with my family) Last year I strained at the radio in the middle of nowhere to hear the game, shocking others by screaming at the radio with every play. I am sure that I will be doing the same again this game.

My prediction is 

Oregon State 35
EKU 17

GO BEAVS!