Here are my takeaways from Oregon State's 42-7 loss to Washington.
1. What did you expect? I didn't grow up an Oregon State fan, but after living and breathing OSU athletics coverage for a year, it's hard not to have an affection for the school. I really do love my job and enjoy covering this program, but I'm still very realistic with this team, and based on a lot of the comments I've seen on the board, I think you guys are basing a lot of your comments on emotion rather than with your football caps on. Oregon State, arguably the worst P5 team in the country, just hung with Washington, a top 5 team in the country, for a half. It was 7-0 at halftime. Yeah, I understand that expectations are much, much higher than the product OSU is putting on the field, but putting this team in context - there were lots of positives to take away from the game. If OSU plays the level they did tonight on offense/defense/special teams against a team like Arizona, they will win. I know the offense stunk, but I liked the game McGiven called tonight to be honest.
2. The first half was amazing. The Beavs allowed a good bit of yardage (194) and a ton of first downs (14), but they only allowed the one touchdown. Oregon State played with a serious fire on the defensive side of the ball, and I was particularly impressed with the linebackers. Bright Ugwoegbu had some good moments (credited for 1/2 of a sack too) and obviously, Manase Hungalu was very good with two first half sacks. The offense only had three first downs and didn't move it past midfield in the first half, but they didn't turn the ball over, which was huge. Again, the first half was great, especially given the context that Oregon State is simply bad and Washington is very, very good. If Oregon State played the New England Patriots and didn't score a point, would you be pissed or would you understand that the Beavers are completely outclassed? Again, the fact that Oregon State is this bad is a different discussion... When you realize what Oregon State football is, then this loss has good takeaways.
3. The Beavers won the special teams battle. Washington missed a field goal and were dominated in the field position battle in the first half as punter Nick Porebski had one hell of a game. He had eight punts averaging 44 yards per punt, and UW's Dante Pettis did not have a single punt return attempt.
4. Pettis did crush the Oregon State DB's though. I'm not typically the type of guy to call out coaches, but I do not understand some of Kevin Clune's decisions. He knows much more about football than I do, sure, but some of the personnel and scheme decisions were head scratching. I do not understand why rushing just three is a good idea. Oregon State might be better off dropping 11, because those three OSU D-lineman are not sacking anyone in the Pac-12 without help from blitzing linebackers. I also did not understand the insertion of Isaiah Dunn in a prominent role. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he played in his first college football game tonight at cornerback. To get his feet wet, he has one-on-one assignments with Dante Pettis, who will be playing on Sundays? Pettis was targeted 15 times and caught 12 of those passes. No other UW receivers were targeted more than 4 times. I do not understand why Pettis did not have a safety spying him or straight up double teaming him on every play.
5. Not much change to the offense with Darell Garretson at quarterback. One rush for one yard. That was DG's rushing statistics on Saturday night. Andersen said during one of his press conferences this week that Garretson being in the lineup will obviously result in small changes to the scheme as he's more of a running QB, but we obviously didn't see that tonight. Did Oregon State limit his running to keep him from getting pummeled by the UW defense, potentially risking injury? It's possible, and honestly, I understand that decision. Running him wouldn't have made much of a difference tonight.
6. Quick thoughts.
- Where the hell was Isaiah Hodgins? When Andersen was asked about Hodgins not playing, Andersen said that 'you'll have to ask McGiven/Phillips,' which is baffling. I just don't understand how Hodgins was the guy opposite of Villy all season, and the Beavs stopped playing Hernandez as much, and then it was the complete opposite tonight - and for no good reason given.
- Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce went down with injuries tonight, and Andersen was not asked about them after the game, which is fine, because he would've said that he doesn't know anything about the injuries - understandably so. I'll learn as much about the status of those two guys ASAP.
- Thomas Tyner looked good but he was running against the UW second string when he had his success. He finished with nine carries for 54 yards and the TD.
- You can't say that McGiven abandoned the run tonight. I mean, DG threw it 22 times and OSU ran it 28 times. So just remember that stat when you want to post "RUN THE DAMN BALL" on the board this week
- Take a deep breath and hang in there, Beaver fans.
1. What did you expect? I didn't grow up an Oregon State fan, but after living and breathing OSU athletics coverage for a year, it's hard not to have an affection for the school. I really do love my job and enjoy covering this program, but I'm still very realistic with this team, and based on a lot of the comments I've seen on the board, I think you guys are basing a lot of your comments on emotion rather than with your football caps on. Oregon State, arguably the worst P5 team in the country, just hung with Washington, a top 5 team in the country, for a half. It was 7-0 at halftime. Yeah, I understand that expectations are much, much higher than the product OSU is putting on the field, but putting this team in context - there were lots of positives to take away from the game. If OSU plays the level they did tonight on offense/defense/special teams against a team like Arizona, they will win. I know the offense stunk, but I liked the game McGiven called tonight to be honest.
2. The first half was amazing. The Beavs allowed a good bit of yardage (194) and a ton of first downs (14), but they only allowed the one touchdown. Oregon State played with a serious fire on the defensive side of the ball, and I was particularly impressed with the linebackers. Bright Ugwoegbu had some good moments (credited for 1/2 of a sack too) and obviously, Manase Hungalu was very good with two first half sacks. The offense only had three first downs and didn't move it past midfield in the first half, but they didn't turn the ball over, which was huge. Again, the first half was great, especially given the context that Oregon State is simply bad and Washington is very, very good. If Oregon State played the New England Patriots and didn't score a point, would you be pissed or would you understand that the Beavers are completely outclassed? Again, the fact that Oregon State is this bad is a different discussion... When you realize what Oregon State football is, then this loss has good takeaways.
3. The Beavers won the special teams battle. Washington missed a field goal and were dominated in the field position battle in the first half as punter Nick Porebski had one hell of a game. He had eight punts averaging 44 yards per punt, and UW's Dante Pettis did not have a single punt return attempt.
4. Pettis did crush the Oregon State DB's though. I'm not typically the type of guy to call out coaches, but I do not understand some of Kevin Clune's decisions. He knows much more about football than I do, sure, but some of the personnel and scheme decisions were head scratching. I do not understand why rushing just three is a good idea. Oregon State might be better off dropping 11, because those three OSU D-lineman are not sacking anyone in the Pac-12 without help from blitzing linebackers. I also did not understand the insertion of Isaiah Dunn in a prominent role. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he played in his first college football game tonight at cornerback. To get his feet wet, he has one-on-one assignments with Dante Pettis, who will be playing on Sundays? Pettis was targeted 15 times and caught 12 of those passes. No other UW receivers were targeted more than 4 times. I do not understand why Pettis did not have a safety spying him or straight up double teaming him on every play.
5. Not much change to the offense with Darell Garretson at quarterback. One rush for one yard. That was DG's rushing statistics on Saturday night. Andersen said during one of his press conferences this week that Garretson being in the lineup will obviously result in small changes to the scheme as he's more of a running QB, but we obviously didn't see that tonight. Did Oregon State limit his running to keep him from getting pummeled by the UW defense, potentially risking injury? It's possible, and honestly, I understand that decision. Running him wouldn't have made much of a difference tonight.
6. Quick thoughts.
- Where the hell was Isaiah Hodgins? When Andersen was asked about Hodgins not playing, Andersen said that 'you'll have to ask McGiven/Phillips,' which is baffling. I just don't understand how Hodgins was the guy opposite of Villy all season, and the Beavs stopped playing Hernandez as much, and then it was the complete opposite tonight - and for no good reason given.
- Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce went down with injuries tonight, and Andersen was not asked about them after the game, which is fine, because he would've said that he doesn't know anything about the injuries - understandably so. I'll learn as much about the status of those two guys ASAP.
- Thomas Tyner looked good but he was running against the UW second string when he had his success. He finished with nine carries for 54 yards and the TD.
- You can't say that McGiven abandoned the run tonight. I mean, DG threw it 22 times and OSU ran it 28 times. So just remember that stat when you want to post "RUN THE DAMN BALL" on the board this week
- Take a deep breath and hang in there, Beaver fans.
