Plus: Todd (the football god) attended his first home game
of the year.
Minus: He wore a gray shirt and refused to sign up for a credit
card to get a free orange shirt. Todd could have at least called web master
Dan or I before the game, we probably have over 20 orange shirts between us.
I’m buying a can of orange spray paint before the next home game.
Plus: The stands were pretty full; the crowd was pretty pumped
up and loud.
Minus:We were into the game less than 30 seconds before someone
asked Todd (the football god) to sit down. Come on people; live college football
is an interactive event. If you don’t want to get loud, it’s you
own business, but don’t get mad a people around you for whooping it up.
If it bothers you to stand, listen to the game on radio or watch it on television.
Neither plus nor minus: WSU had a good showing from its faithful
followers. They were boisterous and made lots of noise, kudos to you WSU faithful
and kudos to the WSU players for going down to the end zone to celebrate with
your fans after the game.
Plus: At least this game was competitive.
Minus: A loss is a loss.
I take it back: I’ll take a loss like Saturday’s
loss over a loss like the Cal game any day. The Beavers, as the saying goes,
left it all out on the field, and they were in it to the end.
Plus: Yankees lost
Even bigger Plus: Ducks lost. The California uniform selection
was hilarious. Perhaps the Beavers should take note for the Civil War.
Minus: Is it me or does PAC-10 officiating (football and basketball)
kind of suck?
The PAC-10 officials punked the Beavers three times in the first half alone.
Plus: The NCAA instituted instant replay to make sure bad
calls by the officials get corrected.
Minus: It doesn’t work. Personally speaking; I would do away with instant
replay altogether. It slows down the game, PAC-10 replay official’s equipment
frequently malfunctions, and it’s not like the replay officials get it
right much more often than the on the field officials.
Neither plus nor minus: The officials were not the reason
the Beavers lost.
Plus: The crowd really got into it after the bad calls. Reser
was rockin as the Beaver faithful voiced their displeasure. The forward pass/fumble
was the funniest part of the game. The crowd was really giving it to the officials
when the call was made but calmed down after the announcement that the bad call
would be reviewed. I’m sure that 42,951 people were sure that the call
would be overturned. When it wasn’t, the volume really went up.
Neither plus nor minus: Is it morally correct to take away
a 47 yard field goal when the defensive team gets called for “disconcerting
signals?” If this penalty is a dead ball foul, how come the whistle wasn’t
blown before the kick?
Plus: Beavers’ defense played like the defense of old.
The linebackers looked like OSU linebackers, flying to the ball and making plays
reminiscent of the days of Tony O, Rico P, Nick B, Richard S, Darnell R, James
A, and on and on and on and on.
Minus: Beavers’ offense played like the offense of old.
The offense looked like OSU offenses from the past, enough said.
Plus: The shotgun formation is an excellent formation when
you are going to pass and everyone knows you are going to pass, especially if
Scott Davis knows you are going to pass.
Minus: The shotgun formation doesn’t work if you don’t
use it.
Plus: Special teams play was terrific. Kick coverage bottled
up the WSU kick returners, Kyle Loomis gets better every week; Coye Francies
was solid on kickoff returns, and Sammie Stroughter absolutely torched WSU on
punt returns.
More of a random thought than a minus: Why call for a punt
block when Sammie is tearing it up?
Now it is up to Seattle for the Beavers. Seattle would be a good place to turn
around a season. Go Beavs!
*****
Big Daddy Orange can be reached at bigdaddyorange@beaverfootball.com.