BFS Story Archive BEAVERS BLOW A GAME FOR THE PAC-10 LEAD IN THE FOURTH QUARTER AT WASHINGTON STATE I have two big points to make in this postgame review aside from the fact that we really sucked in the fourth quarter when we had a chance to knock off the #6 team in the nation on TV. First - I wish this team would figure out who they are because I am sick and tried of the roller coaster ride. It is time for these young men to realize that the level of expectation is now PAC-10 titles and not just a bowl game. Second - I am very disappointed in the behavior of Beaver Fans at the Washington State game. Three weeks ago the Beavers had just come off a four game winning streak, had played a solid game on the road against a good Cal team and looked as if the had a good chance at winning the PAC-10 title. Well that is over now. The Beavers have once again collapsed in mid-season and are searching for something to hang onto for the rest of the season. Despite having a running back that is fourth in the nation in yards per game and a wide receiver that is second in the nation in receiving yards per game. Our offense is not able to perform consistently enough to hold onto the ball and put away teams that we should beat at home (Washington) and a team that we had beaten until we collapsed in the fourth quarter (Washington State). With these two players on our team, how can we possibly be 5-3 at this point in the season? Two reasons. Our offensive line is the worst I have season in a while. Swiss cheese has fewer wholes then our line. Our Quarterback leads the nation in interceptions and is 81st in passing efficiency. It is a chicken and the egg kind of thing. Good lines can make so-so quarterbacks look good and bad lines can make so-so quarterbacks look awful. Derek Anderson is a so-so quarterback with a huge upside if he could ever pull his head out of his ___ long enough to grow up and become a leader. Leadership takes knowledge and poise under pressure and that could be the problem. But in my opinion, the vast majority of the problems we are seeing at QB fall firmly on the shoulders of the offensive line. Just look at Steven Jacksons rushing yards the last two games as evidence. As to the second issue - To every one of you who were sitting on your hands in the fourth quarter and not standing up and cheering for your team when they are trying to drive the field for the game tying score in the final minutes of the game. "GIVE YOUR TICKETS TO SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT OREGON STATE FOOTBALL AND STOP TAKING UP SPACE". All 15 rows of you in front of my seats who sat there and did nothing to cheer on your team are a disgrace to the name of sports fans. And this is not an isolated issue. I have said this before that Beaver fans have a reputation around the PAC-10 as being the quiet ones. They only scream and cheer when their team is winning and get quiet and do nothing to cheer on the team if they get behind in a game. Well Beaver Nation, Don't bitch about the players unless you plan to get off your backsides and cheer them on. I am sick and tired of seeing it happen week after week at home and on the road. I have been going to games for 35 years and I scream loader then 90% of you. Get off your butts and scream. And students, lets try to work on coming up with something that is a unified cheer. It looks really cool to see large sections of fans all doing the same cheer together. The Cougars have it and other schools have it as well. The Cougars do the chomp thing to rally the team and they also do the first down thing in unison and it looks real cool. Come on fans, lets come up with something. Now that I have that off my chest. Lets move onto the game. The Beavers were out played in almost every aspect of the game on the offensive side of the ball. But the Beavers outplayed the Cougars on the defensive side of the ball for the whole game. The final two touchdowns for the Cougars came after consecutive turnovers by Anderson. If you take away fumbles by Anderson and three dropped touchdown passes by the Beavers, we win this game easily. It is by far the most frustrating loss I have witnessed since the Civil War two years ago. This team seems to find ways to lose games on the road. Just look at their record. Fresno State and Washington State this year, USC and Arizona State last year, USC and Oregon two years ago. Good teams rise to the occasion when their team is ahead on the road and put away the opponent. These teams seem to lose control when they have the chance to win. What is the cause of this? Well you first look at coaching. Coaches are the ones who set the tone for the players and who are paid to teach the young men how to achieve. That said, I don't think you can completely blame Mike Riley. After all, this is his first year back and this has been going on for three years now. Next you look at team leadership. This year that would be Derek Anderson, Steven Jackson, and James Newson. Well three years ago it was Jonathan Smith, Ken Simonton and others. So no ties there either. The third is the program in general and that starts with the fans. So next time you want to complain about this football program look at yourself first. Are you doing everything you can as a fan of Oregon State Athletics to build a successful program. The bright side of the loss was the play of the defense. They played perhaps their best game of the season and came away with nothing to show for it. Seven official takeaways, plus an interception on a 2 point conversion that does not count and another interception and return of 50 yards that was called back for a roughing penalty. That would be 7 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries for the game. On offense, the Beavers were stagnant. The line could do nothing to provide time for Anderson or open holes for Jackson to run through. How Jackson managed to run the ball for 85 yards in the game is a testimony of just how big and strong this player is. Other then Jackson and the occasional big play in the passing game. The offense could get nothing going consistently. And for the second week in a row, penalties killed big plays. This team has some soul searching to do if they are going to finish the season with a good record. Good would be 9-3. That is where they should be, anything less then that is underachieving for a team with this much talent. In my preseason poll I had the Beavers finishing the season 9-3 and they can still do that but now the job is much tougher. I even thought they might be able to run the table if the defense showed up with all the losses in the secondary. The offense was suppose to be strong and keep us in games until the defense came around. Well the defense has showed up, when will the offense show up? GO BEAVERS!
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