What We Learned: Oregon State Vs USC

Monday, September 29, 2014

Jeffrey Martin, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo credit: Dainomite on Wikimedia. Creative Commons License. Image cropped.

Beavers fans may have come away from Saturday's game against USC's Trojans crushed by the final scoreline. But here are three things we learned from that game to bring into the next one.

Don’t be fooled - the defense is legit.

Forget the statistics, which seemed one-sided. In this conference? The Beavers’ defensive unit, untested through the first three games of the season, proved it’s more than adequate, solid on each level, sturdy against the run and prickly against the pass.

The 35-10 final score in Los Angeles was misleading.

Sean Mannion - more on him in a minute - gift-wrapped seven points on a pick-six in the first quarter and then there was that ridiculous Hail Mary just before the half. Strip away those fixable yet regrettable miscues, and the Trojans finish with just 21 points. And the last touchdown, Justin Davis’s 21-yard scamper, during which it seemed as if the Beavers had conceded, was the cumulative result of USC’s nearly 10-minute edge in time of possession (34:45-25:15).

There were breakdowns, but nothing that can’t be corrected. Sacking Cody Kessler, who gets rid of the ball quickly, three times was impressive.

Oregon State’s defense will improve - just as long as it gets some help. As defensive coordinator Mark Banker told GoLocalPDX.com this week, points and playing with a lead always help. Memo to the offense, where...

Mannion has to be better.

He’ll play on Sundays, and in the right system (Arizona under Bruce Arians? Minnesota with Norv Turner?), the senior quarterback could be outstanding in the NFL. Unfortunately, he was anything but Saturday night at the Coliseum. In fact, he was underwhelming, barely pedestrian. Now, it’s not all his fault - there was no one available to stretch the defense, and with receivers unable to separate, Mannion was forced to check down to running backs and settle for gains of only a few yards.

He can only do so much, right?

But 1 of 10 on third-down conversions? A delay of game penalty? Two interceptions? Completing fewer than half of your attempts? He’s better than that. Truth is, Mannion has rarely been worse, although for the second year in a row he struggled against USC.

That said, if it’s not his day - it was the first time in 35 starts he failed to pass for 200 yards or more - maybe the focus should be shifted elsewhere, which leads to the realization that…

Old habits die hard, huh?

Not second-guessing Mike Riley, who is and remains an amazing coach. But why abandon the running game? The 1-2 punch was doing damage, clearly encouraged by what they must have seen on film from Boston College - the Eagles gashed the Trojans with 452 rushing yards on Sept. 13 - but nevertheless, after falling behind 21-10 at the intermission, the Beavers ran it just seven times in the second half.

Storm Woods (nine carries for 61 yards) and Terron Ward combined for 16 carries for 90 yards. That’s a 5.6 average, which was FAR better than anything else OSU attempted Saturday.

Yes, the clock was working against the Beavers, and yes, running the ball only plays into that.

Midway through the third quarter, though, it was clear what the end result was going to be; would Oregon State had been better served sending a message moving forward by continuing to hammer away with Woods and Ward or continuing to air it out despite futile results with a quarterback who wasn’t having one of his better days?

What happened wasn’t a surprise. Maintaining a commitment to the run - exactly what Riley has preached since the offseason - would have been.