I honestly can't get over how bad our defense looked. Did Dwight Roberson, Lance Mitchell, and Gabe Miller do anything in the offseason? All three of them looked terrible. It is amazing to me that Roberson or Mitchell couldn't seem to tackle Dalton all night as he was juking and making them look pathetic. And then 'Mr Quick' Gabe Miller couldn't figure out how to stay with the RB on the option run and force Dalton inside towards all the help? You have to be kidding me. It makes me think that Darron Thomas will rush for 200 yards by himself against us. And the secondary wasn't much better as the INT's that we got were just gifts from Dalton on bad throws. Overall, its looking like Banker has NO idea how to stop a spread and teams have caught up to the gap cancellation scheme.

I think the offense will be fine in the long run and I was very impressed by Katz's arm. However, can Wilder McAndrews run block? Like even a little bit? I didn't see him get ANY push in the run game which is why Quiz had such a hard time. Time to go back to Phillips or at least insert him at guard. This looks like it could be a long season in Corvallis if we can't get some things figured out....

GO BEAVS!!!

Very nice to hear that Riley is looking to tinker some things to be able to get to that next level. I think after the way the last two regular seasons have ended Riley realizes that we can be better than just consistently being in lower-tier bowl games. I think that Riley's competitiveness is definitely underrated.
Cliff, any thoughts on the potential players that might be changing positions besides Poyer? I know there has long been talk among Beaver fans that maybe Ryan McCants should get put on the defensive side of the ball. Do you think this could happen? Thanks.

Ingram was the best player on the best team which has consistently been the way they have chosen the Heisman winner the past several seasons. I am not saying I agree with that but it is just a fact on how voters have been voting on it. With that said, I thought he deserved it more than Gerhart anyway. The only person who deserved it more than Ingram was Suh. That guy was just a flat out beast and single handily lead his team to the Big-12 championship game. I mean did you how bad their offense was in that game?

Man, just watching THAT got me so jacked up!! I can't even imagine how I am going to feel when the game starts.. This game just has a whole different feel to last years... I am sure the atmosphere is electric in Eugene.

Cliff, any idea as to why the Beavers chose to wear white instead of maybe going with orange? I have a feeling the Ducks may have shot down that idea if/when it was presented to them since they have the final say (being the home team).

Well I guess I should have mentioned that only ONE team can win a national championship every year so when I said "they" I meant just ONE team from the SEC each of those years. And yeah Florida played there 'normal powderpuff schedule' that year which include eventual National Champion LSU and UGA which finished that year ranked #2. Compared to Stanford's daunting schedule this year which include a LOSS against a 4-7 Wake Forest team. And Bama's schedule was MUCH tougher this year compared to Stanford's. Alabama has played 4 teams ranked in the top 25 this year at the time of their meeting with 2 being at home, 1 on the road, and 1 at a neutral site. Oh and yeah they are undefeated compared to Stanford at 4 losses.

Are you kidding me? Tim Tebow had 32 passing touchdowns and 23 rushing touchdowns that season setting an FBS record. His team also went 9-3 in the regular season. Gerhart's number are not even close to being that impressive and his team already has 4 losses with one more game to go. I think that argument is a week one. Also, while I realize most people on the west coast seem to think the SEC is so overrated then tell me why they have won the past 3 National Championships? I am a DIEHARD Beavers fan but I live in Athens, GA and I can tell you that there IS a difference in playing an SEC game than a PAC-10 game. It is something you cannot fully appreciate until you go to an SEC game and feel the atmosphere for yourself.

Umm.... Mark Ingram anybody? This is the guy who is #1 on most other people's list and he would be #1 on mine as well. He has been the best, and most consistent, player on a great team this year. Tebow's numbers in SEC games are mediocre at best and McCoy had a tough time getting things going for about half the season. And why in the world would anybody give it to Gerhart? Yes, he is a great player and had a great year but his team has 4 losses (one of them to the Beavs). So if any Pac-10 player deserves it then it would be Quizz or maybe even Masoli but not Gerhart. A team that finishes 4th or 5th in conference cannot have a Heisman trophy winner.

While I agree with Coach Riley that how they play the game is certainly their business it does seem to me that getting some younger players in a couple of series earlier might help us avoid slow starts at the beginning of seasons. And with Riley knowing we will be breaking in a new QB next year it would be nice to see Katz get some reps to go into next season with. I can EASILY see a possibility of Katz getting an entire half of work against WSU if Riley will let him this week.

Cliff, are the Beavs sticking with the plain all white uniforms this week? Or are we finally going to wear our black pants with the white tops? (ala Utah last year)

I couldn't agree more with Angry on this one. The Beavers lack of recruiting success is alarming and we cannot continue to have the same on field success without starting to land some top guys. Why do you think the Beavs always get off to slow starts? Or lose at least a game or two it shouldn't every year? Because our talent level is below most Pac-10 teams. Now granted our coaches are GREAT at coaching up the talent that we do have but coaching can only go so far as eventually talent will win out. Riley and Co. have to pick it up on the recruiting trail if we ever want to be a consistent top-25 team and Rose Bowl contender.