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LAS VEGAS BOWL 2009 IS TODAY, OSU vs BYU

12-22-2009 - The 2009 Las Vegas Bowl is today at 5pm PST. The Beavers will be playing the Cougars of BYU. For the 4th year in a row the Beavers have finished the PAC-10 Standings in 3rd place or better but this may be one of their most difficult bowl game match ups in that time span. And that is saying a lot since the Beavers have played teams like Missouri and Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl. Both of those teams had BCS aspirations early in the season and so did BYU. But BYU brings something to the table that the other two did not. A head coach who played at Oregon State and coached for the Beavers in 95 and 96. BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall was also a member of the Beavers football team the last time the Beavers played BYU in 1986. The Beavers won that game in Provo 10-7 and Mendenhall made 4 tackles in that game.

BYU (10-2) had hopes earlier in the season of making it to a BCS bowl game and many thought they would do just that before losing to the undefeated and Mountain West Champion TCU who will be going to the Fiesta Bowl. The BYU offense is focused around the passing game of QB Max Hall and leading receiver and all-american Dennis Pitta at TE. Hall threw to 12 different receivers this season for 3368 yards and 30 touchdowns / 14 interceptions. BYU's running game features Harvey Unga who ran for 1016 yards and 10 TD's this season. Compare that to Sean Canfields 3103 yards passing, 21 TD's / 6 interceptions and Quizz Rodgers 1377 yards and 20 TD's this season and you can quickly see where the rubber meets the road in this game.

Both teams can move the ball on the ground and threw the air. The story will be which team can stop the other from doing what they want to do. The Beavers will want to establish the running game with Quizz and then stretch the field with Adeniji and James Rodgers. BYU will counter that by taking a page from the Ducks defense that stuffed the running game and then switching to just stopping the pass and pressuring Canfield in the pocket. It was that switch in tactics late in the Civil War game that spelled doom for the Beavers.

The big story for the Beavers banged up secondary is can they stop the BYU passing game and still provide enough up front to keep them from running the ball and controlling the clock. Time of Possession for these two teams is almost identical. In fact, from looking at the stats for these two teams you could swear the Beavers were playing themselves. Although BYU leads more categories then the Beavers do. Most are almost identical to each other.

BY THE NUMBERS

KEYS	STATISTIC	OSU	BYU	Advantage
.	Records	8-4(6-3)	10-2(7-1)	BYU
.	Scoring Offense	32.4	35.8	BYU
.	Scoring Defense	23.4	21.6	BYU
.	Total Offense	419.4	431.9	BYU
.	Total Defense	352.9	339.0	BYU
.	Rushing Offense	144.2	152.9	BYU
.	Rushing Defense	114.2	95.9	BYU
.	Passing Offense	275.2	279.0	BYU
.	Passing Defense	238.7	243.1	OSU
.	Pass Efficiency	147.3	160.3	BYU
.	Pass Defense Efficiency	128.7	119.4	BYU
.	Kickoff Returns	23.1	24.3	BYU
.	Punt Return Average	8.1	6.8	OSU
.	Interceptions	8	11	BYU
.	Punting NET	37.0	36.6	OSU
.	Kickoff Coverage	42.8	43.2	BYU
.	Field Goals	22/27=.815	7/10=.700	OSU
.	PAT Kicking	43/44=.977	37/37=1.0	BYU
.	Sacks by	15	18	BYU
.	Sacks Against	15	29	BYU
.	First Downs	261	179	OSU
.	Opponent First Downs	233	151	BYU
.	3rd Down Conversions	47.3	55.0	BYU
.	3rd Down Defense	35.5	35.8	OSU
.	4th Down Conversions	75.0	25.0	OSU
.	4th Down Defense	70.0	72.2	OSU
.	Penalties	56.4	72.5	OSU
.	Time of Possession	32.02	31.06	OSU
.	Turnover Margin	+6	+5	OSU
.	Red Zone Offense	96.3	87.5	OSU
.	Red Zone Defense	86.8	72.4	BYU
.	Home Field Advantage	.	.	TIE
32	Totals	12	19	BYU

Two things in the stats that stand out to me are sacks allowed and interceptions. BYU is protecting their QB better then the Beavers are which will give Max Hall time to find receivers down field against our banged up secondary. The Beavers O-line needs to protect Canfield and give him the time he needs to find receivers and not add to BYU's total of 11 interceptions this season.

It really is amazing just how close the statistics are for both teams. It should be a close and exciting game to watch and the team that does the better job executing their game plan and adjusting to the flow of the game will come out on top.

THE BOTTOM LINE

I feel the Beavers need to run the ball successfully and not get pass happy in this game. By establishing the running game the Beavers can grind out long drives and eat up the clock keeping BYU's offense off the field as much as possible. But for the Beavers to be successful they must score touchdowns. Several times this season the Beavers controlled the game and the clock but settled for field goals, not touchdowns and lost the game. Most notably the USC and Oregon games. So scoring touchdown in the red zone will be big for the Beavers. Not sure that this being Quizz's first bowl game is a good thing. Quizz missed last years Civil War and then under performed in that game this year. So will Quizz be able to get over his excitement and put together worthy of being considered one of the nations top running back next season. That is the type of game the Beavers really need from Quizz today. Total domination in the running game for the Beavers wins this game.

FINAL SCORE

BEAVERS 45
BYU 38

GO BEAVERS!

BFS