BFS Current Story

A Win and a Loss Equals a Win For The Beavers

11-2-2008 - The Oregon State University football program took another step towards that conference championship that is the goal of this program every year. But that step was about as stable as a 1 year olds first tentitive first step. Most people, including myself, thought Saturday nights game in front of 44,000+ fans be a comfortable victory for the Beavers. (Insert Cliche here) "We Dodged a bullet", "Got to take them one game at a time", "Got cought looking ahead". Take your pick of your favorite cliche because what happened Saturday night would probably fit most of them. The Beavers got the win but also got a loss. The Beavers won a hard fought, very exciting game over a determined Arizona State team 27-25 on an interception of a 2 point conversion with under a minute to go in the game. The Beavers lost starting quarterback Lyle Moevao in the second quarter for the game and perhaps longer to a shoulder injury on a hard hit.

So with Moevao on the sideline with his shoulder pads off. In steps Sean Canfield to guide the team. Remember Sean Canfield? A few years ago when Matt Moore was throwing interceptions at a record pace and chants were for Canfield, Canfield, Canfield. Well Matt Moore as at the game on Saturday night, taking a break from the NFL and the Carolina Panthers. So on trots Canfield in the second quarter and all the fans around me were like, CANFIELD? What's wrong with Moevao? A few plays later the boos rang out as Canfield threw a terrible pass clear over the head and over the bench of ASU. Canfield entered the game at OSU's second posession of the 2nd quarter and did not move the ball well as the Beavers could not score in the 2nd quarter and had the lead 7-6 at the half. It was the first posession of the third quarter that brought out the boos as Canfield threw in interception that was returned for a touchdown and an Arizona State lead 13-7. That however, seemed to settle him down as from that point on Canfield was pretty solid and led his Beavers back from behind in the 3rd quarter to get his team a win and a memory that will probably last for a while.

Sean Canfield went 19 of 28 for 218 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Moevao was 4 for 6 for 43 yards before leaving the game in the 2nd quarter. Quizz Rodgers continues to impress me, everyone that sits around me and just about anyone who has any idea who Beaver Football is. The kid has some real ability. To watch him cut back and make something out of nothing is pretty amazing. Several times last night Quizz ran up the middle and was stuffed for a loss only to bounce it out and gain a yard or 2 on a play that should have lost yardage.

The big receiver of the night was not Stroughter, 6 catches for 70 yards and 1 touchdown. Not Morales, 3 catches for 31 yards and 2 touchdowns. Although both players made significant contributions to the success of the team. It was James Rodgers, 8 catches for 102 yards. It seemed that whenever the Beavers had their backs to the wall and needed a big play, Rodgers came up with the big catch for a first down. Quizz Rodgers also had 5 catches for 55 yards, giving him 157 all-purpose yards for the night.

BY THE NUMBERS

Key	STATISTIC	OSU	ASU	Advantage
.	Scoring Offense	27	25	OSU
.	Pass Attempts	23/34=.676	15/28=.536	OSU
.	Passing Offense/YPC	261/11.3	217/14.5	OSU
.	Kickoff Returns	16.0	20.0	ASU
.	Punting	36.7	37.0	ASU
.	Turnover Margin	-1	0	ASU
.	Rushing Attempts / YPC	38/2.9	32/2.4	OSU
.	Rushing Offense	109	78	OSU
.	Total Offense	370	295	OSU
.	Punt Return - PUNTS/YPR	3/6.7	3/28.3	ASU
.	First Downs	22	14	OSU
.	Sacks	5	1	OSU
.	Penalties	2/15	10/80	OSU
.	Red Zone Offense	3/3	5/5	ASU
.	3rd Down Conversions	6/14	4/14	OSU
.	4th Down Conversions	1/1	1/1	TIE
.	Field Goals	2/3	4/5	ASU
.	Time of Possession	32.31	27.29	OSU
.	Totals	11 wins	6 wins	OSU

This was a game that everyone thought the Beavers were just going to walk all over Arizona State. The Beavers might have been caught looking ahead with all the talk about the Rose Bowl last week. ASU was a scary team coming in to Corvallis because they had their backs to the wall. At 2-5 the ASU fans are not happy with Carpenter or Erickson. When a team with this much talent gets up against the wall they will fight and fight hard. The Beavers had better remember that next week when they travel to UCLA. The are another team in need of a win and the Beavers have not had much success against the Bruins in recent history.

GO BEAVERS!

BFS