2009 NCAA - Oregon State
From 1972 through 1998, the Beavers never fielded a winning team; things were so bad at one point that there was talk of them withdrawing from the league because they just weren't competitive. When Mike Riley took the job in 1997, that started to change. His two seasons laid the groundwork for Dennis Erickson to have four highly-successful years from 1999-2002. After Riley's foray into the NFL was largely a failure, he regained the OSU post prior to the 2003 season and has proven that he can still win in Corvallis. The Beavers have won all five bowl games they've played in since then and were within one game of a Rose Bowl appearance in 2008. He led the Beavers to home wins over top-ranked Stanford in 2006 and again last fall, denying USC a shot at playing for the national title both times.
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Oregon State
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Graduation losses are a factor heading into fall, as only Oregon returns fewer starters on both sides. The defense is particularly hard hit, as FIVE NFL draftees depart, as well as three other starters. There are only a couple of playmakers back; then again, DC Mark Banker had just three returning starters going into 2008, yet yielded just 312 ypg! Banker has never seemed to suffer from a lack of speed, so inexperience figures to be the biggest concern. Things are a bit more settled on offense, as two capable QBs return for their senior seasons. The Rodgers brothers (sophomore jitterbug Jacquizz and junior RB/WR James) both figure to play prominent roles, as well. Both of them missed the Sun Bowl - and the ensuing 3-0 result, a win over Pitt, shows just how much they mean to the OSU attack. The wideouts lose productive threat Sammie Stroughter and possession guy Shane Morales and will clearly be down, and there will be some reshuffling up front.
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| ASK the bookie? - The recent pointspread success of Riley (23-11 ATS last 34) is just the tip of the iceberg as to why The Bookie respects the job Riley has done. This guy has won with aplomb and class and is 14 games above .500 in eight full seasons here. If it doesn't sound, good, refer to the first sentence of this report, where there were 27 seasons of football between winning records for OSU. This year's non-conference schedule is far more manageable than last year's doozy. The defense gets three relatively pedestrian (with respect to UNLV) offenses to look at before Arizona comes to town to end September. OSU could easily be 7-2 before closing with three of four on the road. Another nine-win season looks possible. |
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