Oregon State Preview
by John Berkowitz on Nov 13, 2009 10:24 AM PST
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PrintThe Huskies travel to Oregon State on Saturday to play the Beavers. Washington has its back against the wall going into this one. A loss the Beavers means that the team won't be bowl eligible this season.
I would ove to predict a victory in this one but Oregon State has too many edges in too many places going into this one. One key edge is the Beavers simply know how to finishand win games. Washington on the othe rhand does not. The 3-6 Huskies could easliy be 6-3 right now if they had taken advantage of opportunities against Notre Dame, ASU, and UCLA.
With Jake Locker in the lineup Washington always has the potential of beating anyone or at least keeping it lose enough to be competitive. The key though is getting out to a fast start and scoring some TD's in the red zone rather than resorting to FG's.
Position Ratings
Quarterback - Oregon State...Sean Canfield is having a great senior season and has helped turn the Beavers into the top passing team in the Pac 10. Jake Locker started the season strong but poor decision making, a scheme that rarely uses his legs, and a questionable offensive line have limited his effectiveness over the second half of the season.
Running Back - Oregon State...Jacquizz Rodgers has been slowed from time to time this season by nagging injuries but he has put up good numbers and the best number is 15 TD's. His brother James also helps carry the load since he often gets carries even though he is a receiver. As usual Chris Polk will get his yards even though the OSU defense is ranked 15th in the country is rushing defense. Polk is just too good to shut out. The Beav's get the overall edge because Jacquizz is the better back at this point. Factor in running behind a better offensive line and it is no contest.
Wide Receiver - Even...James Rodgers is a great talent but Washington has a pretty good trio in Aguilar, Kearse, and Johnson which balances it out.
Offensive Line - Oregon State...The Beavers hav eone of the more productive and balanced offenses in the Pac 10. They can beat you throwing and they can beat you running. It all starts off with the guys up front who have done a great job giving Canfield time to throw and the Rodgers brothers room to run.
Defensive Line - Oregon State...The Beavers are strong up front and get better every game. Washington showed some promise earlier this season but the loss or Cameron Elisara to stingers has been a tough hole to fill. They moved DTN inside last week and that didn't work either. OSU rotates up to ten different players in and out during the game. They have a hige depth and talent advantage at this position over Washington.
Linebacker - Even...The Huskies have suffered a drop off with EJ Savannah out of the line up. Cort Dennison has done a great job filling in but you do notice the drop off. Mason and Butler continue to be two of the leagues best backers.
Secondary - Even...Both of these units give up a lot of yards. What they have in common is youth and lack of experience. The Beavers have a little more speed back here but that speed hasn't really helped them. Washington is getting better every week enven though the stats don't show it. Some help up front would make this secondary look better.
Special Teams - Oregon State...James Rodgers can hurt you in so many ways. He leads the conference in all purpose yards. Erik Folk has only missed a couple of FG's this season. The last one he missed against UCLA cost Washington the game.
Team Matchups
Washington Passing Game Versus Oregon State
If Washington is going to pull off the upset Jake Locker is going to have to have one of the best days of his career. The OSU secondary is very susceptible to the long ball since they insist on playing a lot of man coverage. The Washington receivers need to take advantage of those one on one type situations to help stretch the field.
Washington Rushing Game Versus Oregon State
Chris Polk always get his yards and he is coming off a 134 yard effort against UCLA last weekend. The big concern Washington has is getting the tough yards in the redzone they need when everyone knows they need to run the ball. When teams know what is coming they end up stuffing up.
Oregon State Passing Game Versus Washington
This will get pretty ugly quickly if the Huskies play pass defense the way they did last Saturday. Washington needs to get some form of pressure on Sean Canfield or it is going to be another long afternoon. Canfield has had a great season so far and if if given 5-6 seconds to pass on every down he is going to cut Washington apart. When under pressure he can make some game changing mistakes. Can Washington put pressure on him this week?
Oregon State Rushing Game Versus Washington
Washington has been able to stop the run early against most teams this season. Once the defense starts to tire in the second half it become an entirely different story. Jacquizz Rodgers just may be the best the Huskies see this season. This kid has all the tools and if the interior of the UW defensive line breaks down he is off to the races in the same manner as Oregon's LaMichael James was a few weeks ago.
Intangibles
Reser Stadium has become a very tough place to play in. Prior to 2000 there were probably an equal amount of Washington and Oregon State fans in the stands. That has changed over the past decade.
Jake Locker returns to the scene of where he was knocked out of the game and carried out on a stretcher to an ambulance. Jake says he remembers very little from that night but you think that shot might just give him some extra incentive on Saturday.
Game Notes
Defensive tackle Cameron Elisara (neck stinger) and linebacker E.J. Savannah (broken thumb) will sit out a second consecutive game this Saturday at Oregon State. De’Shon Matthews is likely to start in Elisara’s place at defensive tackle, while Cort Dennison is Savannah’s backup at linebacker.
Running back Chris Polk (ribs) will be able to play on saturday even though he is a little tender.
Ben Ossai and Drew Schaefer continue to split time at left tackle. Look for Schaefer to get the bulk of playing time on Saturday as the coaches begin to prepare for the future.
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Our Spread Series Sucks!
We’ve got to abandon our spread series- it hasn’t been productive in the second half of the season. It’s gotten to the point that defenses know what to expect from it and have burried it time and again. The opposing defenses have a mind set that when they see our spread formation, they are keying two players.
1) Chris Polk
2) Jake Locker
We’ve got to keep the opposing defense guessing and when you limit the thought process of the opposing defense to key on 2 players it gets squashed!
Our spread formation has killed us in the second half. If we align in pro style formations the opposing defense is left guessing. We can run Polk out of the pro and we can run Locker on a naked boot, or we can simply run our passing offense out of it. But when we’re in spread the opposing defense spies Polk and Locker w/ the ball. We’re not fooling anybody with our stinkin’ spread- time to scrap it for good.
Watch our spread series and I’ll bet you anything that the ball goes to Polk or Locker keeps it. Opposing defenses are seeing it too and are blowing it up for negative yards. Time to commit to pro 100%.
All I saw was purple
Wow, I'm shocked
Crazi calling out the spread offense, never saw that one coming.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Even you Lear, a guy in love with spread offensive football has to admit that our spread is largely pathetic. The brilliance of the spread is to spread out the defense horizontally in regards to the passing game. In the running game it’s all about deception and ball movement, i.e. fake [see Oregon].
From what I’ve seen from our spread is that the ball is staying in the backfield and it’s either given to Polk or Locker keeps it. Opposing defenses have seen this too and are dialed in on it. WE don’t understand the intracacies of spread offensive football! Last season Lappano didn’t know what the hell he was doing. This year when we’ve run it, the ball is going to Polk or Locker is keeping it. And by now everybody knows who’s got the ball.
Sark is a pro style guy. Played in it in college and has coached it throughout his coaching career. Our spread was good early on when nobody knew what we were doing with it. But by now everybody is dialed into Polk or Locker in it and we are getting drilled in the backfield with it.
Time to go pro style and commit to it 100%!
All I saw was purple
I actually want Sark to commit to the pro 100%
I agree, it’s in the best interest of this team to go completely with one system, but you can still use the shotgun formation in the pro style offense.
I like what our spread formations are doing for the passing game, but you are correct, running out of the spread isn’t working for us. Then again, Coach Sark even admitting that when teams know we are going to run, we have little to no success, we only suceed when they don’t see it coming. That being said, we don’t have the o-line right now to pound it down anybody’s throat, so you have to give Sark credit for passing more often and not sticking with an offense that isn’t working.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Good Points
An Oregon State victory? To me, it’s all on Jake Locker’s hands. A QB in the National Football League has the abiltiy to inspire the play of his teammates and win. Examples:
1) John Elway- didn’t have the greatest support around him but found ways to lift the play of his teammates and win.
2) Joe Montana- Won three Superbowls with the Niners. If you look back to those 49er teams they weren’t loaded with great talent. Pittsburgh in the 70s, Dallas in the 90s- those teams had dynasty talent. But the 80s 49ers didn’t. They had strategy, a QB, Rice, and a bunch of guys that bought into their coach and QB.
Locker can be an Elway or Montana, but he’s got to start learning how to command folks attention, more precisely his teammates.
All I saw was purple
I’m trying really hard to think of a logical scenario where we win, and about all I can come up with is this – for whatever reason, OSU comes out flat, we play inspired, we generate a lot of turnovers, get some early success blitzing Canfield and running the ball behind Polk, get an early 3 score lead and hang on.
Sure would be nice to come home with our first road victory and keep alive our bowl hopes…
I’m not all that old, but I remember when OSU was an automatic win for the Dawgs. I sure would love a return to those times.
I refuse to be beaten by a team whose mascot is a big, furry beaver.
Oh, me too. I first started paying attention to and attending home games in 1978 when I was 8 years old, and the Beavers were well into their long period of futility. I remember being disappointed if we didn’t beat them by 30 points. That 1985 game was such a shock to the system – I remember thinking “how is this possible that we lost to the Beavers – they are a terrible program”.
But you have to have some perspective – the Beavers didn’t always suck. They were a pretty good program in the ’50’s & ’60’s under Prothro and Andros. Just goes to show that things can go in cycles.
In order to win
I think Jake Locker needs to figure out how to inspire his troops. Vs. LSU and USC he looked like a field general of sorts. The guy commanded the game(s) and the players around him trusted him.
But none of that is foreseen now. Is it due to depth issues and critical injuries to critical players? Is it that we’ve regressed so much that our mindset is stuck in 2008? Is it that their might be some friction growing in the program between players and coaches?
Whatever it is forget about it. This team has a fighting chance to do something no Husky football team hasn’t done in quite awhile- go bowling. That would be a HUGE feather in this team’s cap. But to do that we’ve got to come away from Corvallis, OR with a win. It’s sad, but it would be a remarkable upset. But it all starts with our QB- Jake Locker. He has to inspire the play of his teammates. It’s a sucky deal, but it’s all on you Locker- can you handle it?
If you can’t then a prospective career as a winning NFL QB is not in your favor. You have to learn how to lift the play of your teammats as a QB. DO IT! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
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