CORVALLIS — Oregon State finds itself betwixt and between on how to play it offensively against Oregon.
The Beavers would like to keep the football away from the Ducks.
But they also know they’re likely to need a high-scoring performance to overcome no. 1 Oregon on Saturday at Reser Stadium.
So which is it? Control the football and the clock, or take what’s there and try to score quickly if the opportunity presents itself?
“We’ll take whatever we can get,” OSU coach Mike Riley said.
“if we can get big plays, we’ll take ’em fast. We can’t be overly conservative.
“We’re not going to sit there and run three times and see how many seconds we can get off the clock so (the Ducks) don’t have the ball.”
It’s not OSU’s style, at least this season.
The Beavers are ninth in the Pac-10 in time of possession, averaging 27:45. Oregon averages only 14 more seconds of possession, but the Ducks’ fast-paced style has resulted in them running 878 plays, almost 200 more than OSU (687), which averages a league-low 62.5 offensive plays.
The Beavers know they’re going to be challenged on defense.
“the plan has to include some variety,” Riley said. “it has to include great execution behind it.
“these people stretch you in every way.”
Riley likes what he sees from Ducks’ quarterback
Riley said UO quarterback Darron Thomas compares favorably to what’s become a long list of talented quarterbacks the Beavers played against in 2010, headed by TCU’s Andy Dalton, Boise State’s Kellen Moore and Stanford’s Andrew Luck.
“They’re all great players and they do what they do within their systems extremely well and they’re used by their coaches perfectly matching their abilities,” Riley said. “They’re really good fits, and unfortunately, we’ve seen them all in one year.
“Darron is like the perfect athlete, the perfect passer. … For that system, he gives them all they would want.”
OSU’s uniforms an homage to ‘Giant Killers’ on Saturday
The Beavers will wear Nike Pro Combat uniforms for Saturday’s game, with a look designed to pay homage to the 1967 OSU team that came to be known as the “Giant Killers” with wins over no. 2 Purdue, no. 1 USC and a tie with no. 2 UCLA.
“We don’t want to go out there in those uniforms and get embarrassed,” OSU sophomore Jordan Poyer said.
The throwback uniforms use Solar Orange as the “predominant motif,” as described by the Nike designers, as an accent on the helmets and black jerseys, with socks of that orange hue. Nike said the pants “match the archival dirtied white look of ‘67, (so) the pant color is Sail instead of stark white.”
OSU is one of 10 NCAA teams that wore the Nike Pro Combat uniforms during a game this season.
OSU senior James Dockery said while the Beavers appreciate being chosen to wear the special uniforms, “it’s about the players who put on those jerseys in the past and really gave us a reason to have a history. it would be a disservice to put on those jerseys and come out here flat and don’t give our best effort.
“We have to represent those jerseys well.”
Another shot at top-ranked team keeps Beavers stoked
This will be the ninth time that OSU has played a team ranked no. 1, with a 2-6 record in those games. In addition to the 1967 victory over top-ranked USC, the Beavers beat the no. 1 Trojans two years ago in Corvallis.
As if the Civil War game itself and trying to get bowl eligible aren’t motivation enough, there’s always a special sense of playing an unbeaten opponent ranked as the nation’s best team.
“if you can’t get excited for this game and you can’t get focused mentally to play the no. 1 team, then you’re not a football player,” Dockery said. “if you’re a Division I athlete, you live for these moments.”
This and that …
The Beavers will honor 20 seniors before the game, with 11 of those listed as starters including kicker Justin Kahut. James Rodgers, lost for the season with a knee injury, is not among the seniors listed because he is eligible for a medical redshirt and could return in 2011 … OSU’s average of 26.7 yards on kickoff returns will be a school record if it holds up … Quizz Rodgers (3,790) could move up from eighth to sixth on the Pac-10 career rushing list with an average day. Just ahead of him on the conference list are Arizona’s Trung Canidate (3,824) and OSU’s Yvenson Bernard (3,862) … With 1,097 yards this season, Rodgers is already only the eighth Pac-10 player to go over 1,000 rushing yards in three different seasons. no Pac-10 player has done it four times.
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