BFS Current Story

BCS BUSTED!

ON SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2008 THE BEAVERS BEAT THE #1 RANKED TEAM IN THE NATION (USC) ON NATIONAL TELEVISION FOR THE SECOND TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY 27-21

(OSU-USC Photo Gallery)

9-26-2008 - The Oregon State Beavers have become the new giant killers from Corvallis. Forty-one years after the Beavers defeated #1 ranked USC Trojans led by OJ Simpson, the Beavers defeated #1 Ranked USC Trojans once again. The Beavers soundly defeated the Trojans on Thursday night 27-21 in front of 42,000 fans who were all dressed in orange. The Beavers also jumped on the orange out band wagon by discarding the black home jerseys in favor of orange jerseys. Reser stadium was a sea of orange and as loud as I have ever heard it. The offensive and defensive lines just blew USC off the line time and time again, opening up huge holes for Jacquizz Rodgers to slash and weaver his way through on his way to a career high 186 yards on 37 carries and 2 touchdowns. The O-line also only allowed 1 sack of Moevao on the night. The USC line that has been called the best defense Pete Carroll has had at USC could not find an answer for the Beavers blocking or Rodgers running.

Beavers quarterback Lyle Moevao was 18-28 for 167 yards, 2 touchdowns and NO interceptions. He threw mostly short routes all night only going long down field one time. Moevao longest completion was for 22 yards. Oregon State started the game by scoring 3 touchdowns in its first 4 posessions of the game. They looked confident and no where near the team that just two weeks ago was embarrassed on national tv by getting routed by Penn State. I almost could not believe what I was seeing on the field.

Mike Riley has got to be a genius and an outstanding football coach. Riley takes players that most other teams don't want, adds a key player here and there and just makes them better. Look at USC, all-americans and 5 star recruits throughout their roster but they don't seem to get any better. How hard can it be to coach a team with that many top players.

When Ray Malaluga went down my buddy said "That will hurt USC with him out". My comment was that USC has so many 5 star players that they just bring in another first team all-state player from some school to take his plaee. Yes he will be a big lose for USC if he is hurt bad, he is a great player. But USC is so deep on their bench with players is it that much more amazing that we outplayed them for the whole game. I had predicted USC to win by 11 points 35-24 and did not really give OSU any chance of winning this game. It just goes to show you that things are always best decided on the field not off.

This game is one of the best reason why the NCAA has got to come up with a 16 team playoff format that includes all conference champions. After the 16 teams are selected the remaining teams can go play in the bowls like they always do. In our current system no team has a chance to get on a roll and win a national championship at the end of the season like we see in basketball, baseball and every other NCAA sport. Someday hopefully they will come up with something that will work and through out the ranking system.

BY THE NUMBERS

 

Key	STATISTIC	OSU	USC	Advantage
.	Scoring Offense	27	21	OSU
X	Pass Attempts	18/28=.643	18/29=.621	OSU
.	Passing Offense/YPC	227/12.6	167/9.3	OSU
X	Kickoff Returns	14.7	22.2	USC
X	Punts	38.3	39.3	USC
X	Turnover Margin	+2	-2	OSU
.	Rushing Attempts / YPC	45/3.9	22/3.9	TIE
X	Rushing Offense	176	86	OSU
.	Total Offense	343	313	OSU
.	Punt Return - PUNTS/YPR	2/-1.5	2/6.5	USC
.	First Downs	22	16	OSU
X	Sacks	1	1	USC
.	Penalties	5/27	7/84	OSU
X	Red Zone Offense	4/4	1/1	OSU
.	3rd Down Conversions	7/16	2/10	OSU
X	4th Down Conversions	0/0	1/1	USC
X	Field Goals	0/1	0/0	TIE
.	Time of Possession	34.50	25.10	OSU
X	Totals	11 wins	5 wins	OSU

In my pregame breakdown i showed how USC dominated the stats. They won 23 of 31 statistical categories I look at and appeared to be a very dominate team. They were coming off a blowout win over #3 ranked Ohio State. Well just look at the numbers from this game. The Beavers went on to win 11 of 16 post game categories and tied in 2. Besides the play of the lines on both sides of the ball another key factor in this game was the play of punter Johnny Hekker. Hekker had his best game of his short career, averaging 38.3 yards per punt and getting off a beautiful 49 yarder early in the game. But his two best punts were his shortest of the game. With the game on the line late Hekker twice pinned USC deep in their own territory with short punts that got great bounces to force USC to go the length of the field for a score.

Their were highlights all over the field on Thursday night. How about James Rodgers catch of a tipped pass in the endzone for a Beavers touchdown in the first half. The concentration he showed in the video replays was amazing. The Beavers were very lucky that ball was not intercepted, but when the ball came out of the DB's hands, Rodgers was there to catch the ball and then to get his feet down in bounds for the TD.

The Beavers defense shut down the running game of famed tailback u by holding them to only 86 yards rushing and 140 yards below their total offense average coming into the game of 453 yards per game.

The one truly disappointing thing I will bring back from this game is something that I have talked about on this website for years. The lack of support from our fans. The #1 ranked team in the nation was coming into Corvallis to play football and Reser Stadium had nearly 4,000 empty seats. That is not acceptable. When are you people going to stop wishing we were playing for national championships and accept what we have and support it. Riley is a great coach for this program and if you want more national exposure and a bigger stadium to bring in the Michigans and Ohio State of the world then you have to fill the seats we have so the athletic department can afford to expand the stadium to the proposed 54,000 seats and the full double decked horseshoe that is in the final plans. Get off your collective asses, stop bitching and go to the game. The place was electric and all of you who sold your tickets to USC fans, like the guys who sit next to me, or did not go at all should be ashamed to call yourself Beaver fans.

The stories from this game seem endless and people will be talking about the day they were at the OSU-USC game. I was 9 years old in 1967 and my brother was attending Oregon State. I was at the famous OSU-USC giant killers game when the Beavers last beat a #1 ranked team and now I can say I have seen the Beavers beat the #1 ranked team in the nation both times it has happened. It seems like every year lately I have witnessed the best game I have ever seen. OSU-UO, OSU-NOTRE DAME, OSU-MISSOURI, OSU-USC, OSU USC, OSU-USC, OSU-CAL and on and on. It just goes to show you what a great coach and coaching staff can do for a program like Oregon State. I sat through the 28 years of losing seasons and since Riley has come to Oregon State I have been witness to the rebirth of Oregon State football and I look forward to many more years of seeing the best games I have ever seen.

GO BEAVERS!

BFS