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BEAVERS ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE 75TH SUN BOWL!!!

12-31-2008 - The Oregon State Beavers are the Champions of the 75th Sun Bowl game and will no doubt be in the record books of the Sun Bowl for some time to come. The Beavers defense shut out the Pitt Panthers 3-0 in the lowest scoring game in the Sun Bowl since 1940 and the Panthers to 178 total yards and only 10 first downs on the day while sacking the Pittsburgh quarterbacks 5 times.

Offensively the Beavers struggled themselves with a tough Pittsburgh defense and came up empty in two visits inside the Pitt 20 yard line. Jeremy Francis proved that he should be the #2 running back behind Quizz rushing for 82 yards on 15 carries. Stroughter and Morales both had big days, Stroughter caught 6 balls for 88 yards and Morales caught 5 balls for 79 yards.

But it was the much critized Johnny Hekker that was the MVP of the Beavers team with a superb performance punting the ball. Hekker had 10 punts for 450 yards for a 45.0 yard average with a long of 57 yards and 5 punts inside the 20 yard line.

I did not give the Beavers much of a chance to win this game and knew the defense and o-lines were going to have to have bigs days to win and the beavers got just that. In the 4th quarter I was not sure the Beavers were going to be able to keep it up the whole game and the Pitt would somehow find a way to score. I was screaming at the TV, the announcers (who were terrible by the way), the officials (don't get be started on how bad they were.) and just about anything else.

I cannot tell you how many times I had to leave the room to go swear in the other room at what was going on with the offense or the officials. The wind also was a big factor in the game as pass after pass either sailed high over a receivers head or wobbled for in one direction or another. It was easy to see on TV how the ball was affected by the wind. You could see it several times curve offline as it header toward the receiver.

I knew going into this game that is was going to be a close defensive battle but I had no idea that it was going to this type of defensive battle. I figured the offensives would put points on the board because both teams have been doing that all season long even in losses. I figured it would have been 14-10 at half and a little more then twice that in the end after the offiensives opened it up in the forth quarter. But neither offense could ever find a rythmn and we end up at 3-0. Go Figure.

I have become over the last 12 years or so the true believer in the Beavers defense. That is who we are and what we do best, DEFENSE. Sure, every now and then we go to sleep on defense (like the Duck Game and Penn State game) but all in all the Beavers have become one of the best defensive teams in the nation year in year out. Linebacker U, Cornerback U, call it what you want but our defense is flat out good.

A win is a win and even though it was not a pretty win it is a win. I would rather win a boring 3-0 game then lose an exciting 41-40 any day. The win gives the Beavers their third straight 9 win season, their 5th straight bowl win and it keeps Mike Riley perfect in bowl games as a college football coach. It is a great way to start the off season and the Beavers look to be even better next year as they return many key players on offense and defense. The quarterback situation next year will be exciting to see who comes out in front as the Beavers have many quality quarterbacks on their roster. Other then the loss to the Ducks this is a good way to end 2008.

BY THE NUMBERS

Key	STATISTIC	OSU	PITT	Advantage
.	Scoring Offense	3	0	OSU
.	Pass Attempts	21/43=.488	9/28=.321	OSU
.	Passing Offense/YPC	193/9.2	89/9.9	OSU
.	Kickoff Returns	0	18.0	PITT
.	Punting	45.0	42.9	OSU
.	Turnover Margin	-3	-2	PITT
.	Rushing Attempts / YPC	30/2.7	37/2.4	OSU
.	Rushing Offense	80	89	PITT
.	Total Offense	273	178	OSU
.	Punt Return - PUNTS/YPR	3/3.0	6/14.3	PITT
.	First Downs	15	10	OSU
.	Sacks	5	5	TIE
.	Penalties	7/48	2/15	PITT
.	Red Zone Offense	0/2	0/0	TIE
.	3rd Down Conversions	3/17	2/15	OSU
.	4th Down Conversions	1/1	0/1	OSU
.	Field Goals	1/2	0/1	OSU
.	Time of Possession	30.50	29.10	OSU
.	Totals	11 wins	5 wins	OSU

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