Friday, November 11, 2005
Tree Preview
OK folks, this is for all the marbles. I believe in this team but who really wants to travel to Eugene at 5-5 needing the win after the pasting we put on them last year. Let's just get this bowl eligibility thing out of the way now and be able to play loose next week and see where that gets us.
The Beavs have had recent success against the tree winning the last four including the last two at Reser by a combined score of 81-9. Wouldn't it be nice to be on the good side of a blowout for a change? It's senior day, dad's weekend and bowl eligibility on the line so there's plenty to be fired up about. Stanford is on a two game slide giving up a 21 point fourth quarter lead before falling in OT to the Bruins, then last week getting whacked by where they trailed 37-0 in the second and had 5 turnovers.
Stanford had gone four straight games without a turnover prior to the SC game, so we can’t expect a lot of gifts in this one. The Beavs will have to protect the ball, but should be able to move it up and down the field on Stanford who's defensive prowess rivals our own. They have a very week secondary but run a 3-4 front seven, therefore MM will have to be aware of LB's dropping into coverage and minimize mistakes. On offense QB Trent Edwards is a threat to run as well as pass. His leading receiver is out hurt and against SC last week was continuously flustered by pressure. The Beavs need to bring the heat from Ellison and Bray and play solid D behind the receivers. Their running game is weak and our running D is strong so if Stanford is to pull it out it would have to be through the air. Hence the need for the Beavs to minimize big plays. Haven't we been saying that all year?
Honestly, this appears to be a game that the Beavs can win handily if they can just play a complete game. Solid D, keep the turnover battle to no worse than -1 and play off the emotion of this big day. Oh yea, and as much as I love Serna, a few touchdowns wouldn’t hurt our effort. Note to Riley, when you're inside the five, give it to YB. Ellison, Bray, Hass, Anderson, Palescu and others play the final home game of their career. With that elusive 6th win this Senior class will become the first in OSU history to play in 4 straight bowl games. These guys make sure that the Beavs take care of business.
Beavs - 37
Tree - 24
