BEAVERS HOST JOHN ROBINSON ANDTHE UNLV RUNNING REBELS ON SATURDAY

Hello Beaver Fans,

Well it is time for another game and I am ready to go down to Corvallis and party. I love going down to campus.

This week the Beavers take on the Running Rebels of UNLV coached by John Robinson. I am personnly looking forward to this game. Should be good. Two coaches who have never faced each other before, both have great records as college coaches, both have coached in the NFL, and they have never faced each other before. The game is being broadcast live on TBS at 4 pm on Saturday. Oregon State is 0-3 vs UNLV all time. The last time the two schools met was in 1991 with UNLV winning 23-9. The game is a match-up of two of the nation's winningest college coaches: OSU's Dennis Erickson stands seventh in career winning percentage (.725) among active coaches while UNLV's John Robinson is currently 12th (.678)

On UNLV

UNLV is 1-1 for the season. A blowout loss to Wisconsin 27-7 that was called with 7 minutes to go because the power went out at UNLV's stadium. The other was a 31-20 win over now #87 Kansas. John Robinson is 11-0 vs. OSU, which is his most wins over any school. UNLV features senior quarterback Jason Thomas who ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead UNLV past Kansas. Thomas is the type of QB that can cause problems if you should down his receivers, he will run. He ran for 74 yards vs Kansas. Senior Running back Joe Haro ran for 105 yards for the Rebels, including an 8-yard TD run that opened the scoring midway through the first quarter in the game with Kansas. Look for UNLV to run, run, run and the pass thrown in to mix things up. Thomas likes to run out of the pocket and is a real threat.

The Beavers

OSU looks to move to 3-0 on the season and is currently a 15.5 point favorite in the game Saturday. Sophmore QB Derek Anderson is settling into the position of starting QB well by throwing for over 600 yards in his last two games. Sophmore running back Steven Jackson has run for over 100 yards in both of the first two games.

The numbers show that the Beavers have a considerable advantage in almost every category. Both teams are tough againest the run but UNLV is giving up yards to the pass. UNLV will put 8 or 9 players in the box to stop the run and leave the corners to man to man. OSU has a huge advantage in total yards and points scored. OSU is scoring over twice the points of UNLV this season and 150 yards more in offense.

I look for the Beavers to come out running the ball the first play and then going for the big play early. This will be a good game and I think the Beavers will once again start slowly as they settle in the offense and what UNLV is trying to do defensivly. However I believe OSU will wear down the Rebels and put up big points in the first half. The Beavers defense has been solid all season, bending but not breaking. Having not allowed an offensive touchdown all season I think that will be a big incentive for the defense to try and extend that feat for another game. Dwight Wright has been quietly picking up yards and look for him to have a good game.

MY PICK

OSU 41
UNLV 9

Go Beavs!