The undefeated Oregon State Beavers welcome undefeated USC Trojans to Reser Stadium Saturday night for what should be another instant classic between these two teams in Corvallis.
Since the celebrations ended Saturday night and the sights for Beaver fans shifted to the familiar foe of USC, I have been rifling through any and all media coverage of the Beavers, Trojans, and the matchup to come. It is Tuesday of game week, and I have exhausted all pieces I could find from OSU media, USC media, and the gambling talk shows on YouTube, so I decided to take to the web and create some of my own.
After rewatching highlights of both teams in their games this season, and of course, rewatching the upsets of 2006 and 2008, I have come to very few concrete conclusions with the only one being that this is going to be one hell of a night in Corvallis.
The USC offense looks every bit as dangerous as advertised. Caleb Williams is a dynamic quarterback who will test the Beavers defense with his legs which they have struggled with containing this season. The troubles do not stop there, if they can contain Williams' legs, they now have to contain his dynamic and explosive receivers including reigning Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison, and Oklahoma transfer Mario Williams. Outside of their aerial attack, the dual-headed monster in their Running Back room includes Austin Jones and a familiar face to Beaver fans in Oregon transfer, Travis Dye. Both amassed over 100 yards in their win over Fresno State this past Saturday.
The defensive side of the ball for USC, while good is not nearly as strong as their offensive counterpart. They've generated turnovers, with a +10 margin on the season. The defense is giving up 380 yards a game, which I would expect to be a slight bit higher had Fresno State QB Jake Haener been able to play the entire second half against the USC defense.
Early on it seems that the way to score against this Trojans defense is running the ball which factors in nicely with the way that Oregon State wants to play this game. The key is going to be to keep Caleb Williams and that offense off the field for as long as they can. Similarly, these efforts led to positive outcomes in '06 and '08 where again the Trojan offense was laden with NFL talent. The Trojan defense has shown that they are a bend but dont break defense by allowing teams to enter the red zone but posting a wildly impressive 7-13 red zone efficiency for opposing offenses. That will be tested this weekend with the JackHammer package with Jack Colletto and this versatile Beavers running attack.
Comparing these teams in the trenches is where I think one will be able to find some telling signs of what is to come. On the offensive line, the Oregon State squad measures up to a total of 1,535lbs. Compare that to the four-man defensive front of USC which weighs in at 1,060lbs. That defensive front is bound to be quick but with the size advantage and good technique, the Beavers should be able to dictate where they move the ball and protect Chance Nolan against a 4 or 5-man rush.
The game plan for defenses so far this season against the Beavers has been to load the box, stop the run, and force Chance Nolan and the Beaver receivers to beat you through the air. Since week 1 the offense has been growing in that regard and making defenses respect the newfound ability for Nolan to accurately throw the deep ball, especially when working off of play actions. After putting together their most complete game on offense last week scoring 10 touchdowns over Montana State, I am intrigued to see how Coach Riley and Trojan DC Alex Grinch attack this Beaver offense.
The last aspect of the game that I want to cover is going to be the atmosphere. School starts on Wednesday for the Beavers which means that for the first time this season, students will be on campus. As of last night around 6 pm, there were 1,600 student tickets remaining which I expect to be sold out come Wednesday night. The University has created and released for sale 500 additional standing-room-only tickets which if have not already, will also sell out before the weekend. It is going to be a raucous and vicious crowd, dawned in all orange come Saturday at 6:30 pm with what I can only imagine will be some creative signs wishing the Trojans a farewell from Corvallis on their way to the Big 10.
As far as predictions go, this USC team boasts some of the most athleticism seen in the country in college football but as OL Jake Levengood put it "They wear jerseys and helmets just like us".
Beaver run game and environment prove too much for the Trojans as Williams throws 2 interceptions and Dye has a costly fumble. OSU 48 USC 42. Beavers spring another trap.
Comments