There were a ton of positives in the game, beginning with the passing game.
Sophomore quarterback Sean Canfield excelled, completing 21-of-30 passes for
353 yards and three touchdowns – again, I do have to keep things in perspective
and remember the opponents OSU competed against, but completing 21-of-30 passes
is not a simple feat.
It was great to see the real Sammie Stroughter back out on the field grabbing
nine passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns. The Sammie we as Beaver fans saw
at Cincinnati wasn’t the real Sammie – no way. The Sammie we saw
this past Saturday – that is the Sammie Stroughter we saw last year return
a punt for a touchdown against USC (and a couple other teams for that matter).
The Sammie we saw this past Saturday is the Sammie who torched the University
of Washington for 223 yards on seven receptions and USC for 127 yards on eight
catches. It is great to have him back.
It was also nice to see Anthony Brown have an outstanding game – eight
catches for 156 yards and one touchdown. Believe it or not, this was not a career-high
for receptions in a game for the man we use to call Anthony Wheat-Brown –
or simply AWB online. Back in 2004, Brown had 11 catches for 117 yards against
Stanford – the only other time he has had more than 100 yards receiving
in a single game in his entire OSU career – lets hope he becomes a RELIABLE
No. 2 receiver next to Stroughter.
In a major change from OSU’s game at Cincy, the Beavers had just one
turnover and finished plus-3 in turnover margin for the game. I don’t
necessarily think the Beavers have to win the turnover margin by that much to
win games in the Pac-10, but it better be plus-2, plus-1, or even. Agood goal
for the defense to shoot for would be plus-1 each game from here on out –
force one more turnover than the OSU offense gives up. Hopefully that number
the Beaver offense gives up will stay much closer to one or zero than seven,
like that debacle at Cincinnati.
Another positive I saw, as of course the rest of you did I’m sure, was
that our defense had four interceptions. Sure, a number of them came in garbage
time, but that is four more than the team had in the first two games combined.
Even though this game was against Idaho State, hopefully the Oregon State defensive
backs have gained some confidence. Prediction: this week at Arizona State Derrick Doggett will get his first interception of the year – and don’t
be surprised if he takes it back for a touchdown.
It was great to see backup kicker Justin Kahut get in the game once things
were in hand. Getting experience for the backup kicker – well, all of
the backups for that matter – could prove to be extremely valuable down
the road. I’d even consider letting Kahut kickoff to save Serna’s
leg some since he now handles punting duties to go along with his responsibilities
as a place kicker.
I want to personally thank all of those who did not show up to the game and
those who left early – my ride home was as quick as I can ever remember.
It didn’t even take long to get on campus. That said, no matter how the
men in black (well, white then I’m guessing) do Saturday, Sept. 22 at
Arizona State, we need to pack Reser Stadium to capacity the following Saturday
when the Beavers welcome UCLA to Corvallis on Sept. 29.
In our home Pac-10 opener the team will need Beaver Nation to be loud and cause
the Bruins problems – that is our job and our challenge as fans. We’ve
got to give OSU a clear home field advantage. I took a guest to the game against
Idaho State – and I know this is wrong, but my guest is a Duck fan. She
said Reser was the quietest stadium she has ever been to – the bad thing
is, at least for this game, I agree. Please – take that personally, I
do.
Memo to Oregon State, and I’m not positive who needs to see this, but
PLEASE FIX THE VIDEO BOARD. The Beaver uniforms look red and black, not orange
and black like they should be – that goes for most people in the stands
too. The only people who show up on the “Dam Cam” with actual orange
shirts, are the ones wearing a Tennessee Volunteers-like shade of orange –
anyone wearing Beaver orange looks like they are wearing red on our beautiful
new video screen. You have two weeks, get the job done please.
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Jake Schubert is a new/old contributor to BeaverFootball.com. He writes for
the Newport News-Times in Newport, Oregon and can be reached at sports@newportnewstimes.com.
Jake has been to every home football at OSU for eight consecutive years and
he is looking to make it nine this year.