What We Learned: California at Oregon State

Monday, November 03, 2014

Jeffrey Martin, GoLocalPDX Contributor

The Beavers haven’t stopped playing for Mike Riley.

OSU was down 17 points Saturday at home and roared back to take a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter - that doesn’t happen if a team isn’t locked in and committed to the task at hand.

Of course, the Beavers also promptly relinquished that lead, losing by two touchdowns to the Bears, who possess the worst (statistical) defense in the Pac-12.

It was if the home team mustered all of its energy to get back into contention - and then had the wind knocked out of them after Cal refused to fade.

So, it looks as if...

There isn’t much left to play for.

Pride, obviously.

And maybe the continued development of some key players, such as young wide receivers Jordan Villamin and Victor Bolden.

But what else? The options have dwindled.

A bowl berth? Six wins is iffy. A victory this Saturday at home against Washington State, which lost starting quarterback Connor Halliday to a broken leg over the weekend, is expected, but is there hope in any of the last three games? Home against No. 11 Arizona State, at Washington and then home against No. 5 Oregon in the Civil War?

So, at 4-5 right now, scratch a winning record off the list, too.

Yikes.

While such an effort might yield a coaching change at other schools, just know that...

Nothing is going to happen to Riley.

He won’t be bought out. He won’t be fired.

He’ll be coaching the Beavers next year, so don’t even bother with that talk. And could OSU possibly find a better coach on the open market, anyway? Probably not.

Nevertheless, expectations remain through the roof.

Call it living in UO’s shadow - not every school is going to compete for the national title or the Pac-12 championship every year. In truth, there are only a handful of teams in the country that do that year in and year out.

Oregon State isn’t one of them.

Does that mean fans should accept mediocrity? Of course not. But is it realistic for the Beavers to make a run at those goals every 2-3 years, to gear up for such runs by grooming overlooked talent and remaining patient?

I think so, but that’s not very sexy, is it?