Tough Home Opener in Mens Basketball

In today's home opener, the Oregon State Men's Basketball team suffered a tough loss to the Sacramento State Hornets, losing 63-65.

The Good:
Despite only six points to show for it, Jared Cunningham was every bit the four-star recruit that he was made out to be. He played with some great athletism and got the crowd into the game. Daniel Deane's defense impressed me as well. The Beavers also did a great job playing catch-up  in the second half. Also in the first timeout of the first half, last season's CBI Champions were honored and the crowd was shown the new Championship banner hanging in the rafters of Gill Colluseum. The crowd of 4316 was also a decent size for a non-conference game, especially considering the state of the program during the last two decades.

The Bad:
The Beavers kept on missing easy shot after easy shot, and the Hornets just couldn't miss, especially in their free throws. There were too many easy shots that would have been the difference in the game. Maybe they were jinxed by the presence of Benny Beaver's backup. (I'm assuming the real mascot's alter-ego is up with the cheerleaders at the Wazzu football game.)

The Ugly:
By halftime, the Beavers only had 22 points, half of the Hornets' 44.

OSU vs. UW

After another victory against Washington (our 6th straight against them, and 2nd home victory in the stretch), OSU is still in the Rose Bowl hunt, thanks to Stanford's tossing of USC. Quizz again made his mark, blasting UW's defense until being pulled in the 4th quarter, along with half the starters, as Riley gave the younger guys some playing time while avoiding the possiblity of injuries to the starters. Quizz will probably again be mentioned by ESPN as a Heisman candidate, and though he doesn't stand much chance since the award has mostly been rigged in favor of top-10 teams, it should help his chances next year, as well as his chances this year for the Maxwell Award (for which he is a semi-finalist so far). Canfield also continued to be on fire and continues to make us scratch our heads, wondering where this phantom quarterback has hidden the real Sean Canfield, the one who had previously been sacked in favor of Moevao.

Also in a side note, while eating dinner I happened upon Lyle Moevao! I saw a lady with a Moevao jersey and a guy on crutches with an Al Afalava jersey (he plays for the Bears in the NFL). I thought he looked like Moevao, and his crutches made it seem more likely, but then I saw a small pattern on the right side of his head in his haircut which I had seen during a walk around the field earlier in the day.

Since you can just as easily get a recap of the game from yahoo or espn, I'll avoid the plaigerism and just share a few photos from the game...

Benny after the game

Reser was alive with over 45,200, the largest crowd of the season!

(never mind that the Huskies bought out two entire nosebleed sections besides their visitors section)

I just happend to be walking around this endzone (I was sitting at the opposite endzone) when we scored.

Great timing, and a great time to have field access.

After the game, OSU and UW had a Battle of the Bands

In the words of one Band member: "Washington's band is the only other Pac-10 band I would buy a CD from." They looked and sounded great, and have the most class of all the Pac-10 bands. Stanford could stand to observe the UW band for a game or two.

Thriller

If you didn't make it to the game on Saturday, or if you got up during halftime, you missed perhaps the best halftime show by the Oregon State Marching Band in recent history. The band performed Timewarp, Highway to Hell, and Michael Jackson's "Thriller," but what made it really memorable was the end with Thriller. During the song, the Band put down their instruments and performed the Thriller dance done by Michael Jackson, complete with their right gloves taken off. It got the loudest and best crowd reaction I have ever heard, and it seemed to be the best-done show of the year.

It was also fitting that it was Halloween, and that the night prior, 655 people (the band included) broke the college world record for number of people performing the dance.

If you missed it, here is the show: Thriller Show

It may take a few minutes to load, but it is worth it.

Scary victory at Reser spells a dangerous future

I was not worried going into the UCLA game, and despite a win, I am more concerned than before about the rest of the season. Up 16-0 at one point, Oregon State looked poised to roll through the bumbling Bruins, but they let their guard down, not only surrendering two two-point conversions, but letting UCLA's offense tear up the Beaver D for most of the 2nd half. To make matters worse, after UCLA tied it up at 19 with just a couple minutes to go, one of Canfield's passes came within just an inch or two of an interception which may have gone for a UCLA defensive touchdown and an OSU loss.

Oregon State, despite the letdown, did still put up some good numbers. Canfield again was in the 70's in his completion rate, and in a streak of irony, both Rodgers brothers scored in unusual fashion. Jacquizz, in the Wildcat Formation, passed the ball to Brady Camp for an early TD, while James ran the game winner into the endzone. Ok, so not as unusual for James, and not Quizz's first pass, but now he is two for two with one Touchdown this season at OSU. He also was just a reception away from breaking the 100 yard barrier both in rushing and in recieving.

Looking at the rest of the schedule, things could get very interesting:

Nov. 7 at Cal- Another mid-pack team, this matchup should be fairly even. I think OSU is a better team, but Cal gets the home-team advantage. No telling if the game will be close, or if one team will break away. Cal gets the edge, but it is anybody's game.

Nov. 14 vs. UW- On paper, OSU is the clear favored team here. Add that the game is in Corvallis, and you would think it is a no-brainer. The problem is that the Huskies have a bone to pick with us... last time they came to Reser, Al Afalava's (clean) hit knocked out Locker and they weren't able to fully recover all season. Making it even more interesting, that same game had some officiating worthy of Oregon-Oklahoma as the referees got officially reprimanded for almost blowing OSU's earned win on a bogus fumble call. The call was reviewed and they still got it wrong. Still, I give OSU the edge on this one. We can't let down on Dad's weekend can we?

Nov. 21 at WSU- The Cougars aren't that bad of a team, and I respect them for some of the efforts they have been producing. At least, that is true of the Houston Cougars. Wazzu on the other hand? They have replaced last year's UW as the Pac 10's laughingstock. Only way the Beavers have a chance at a loss is either key injuries in several positions and/or they shoot themselves in the foot. Several times.

Dec. 3 at the Ugly Ducklings- Scary. Very scary. Tonight's halloween bashing of USC showed that they have their own version of Quizz, and while ours is a better back, UO's James is even faster, and if he finds a hole, he is gone. Poof. Endzone. Winning at Autzen will be nigh impossible without their best performance, and possibly a little help from the ducklings as the heated rivalry gets the best of their emotions. It will be tough, but not impossible. Through in some trick plays (Wildcat, Fake FG, etc), and a dose of their own medicine could be a thorn in the side of an Oregon team with the national title in their sights, and a Rose Bowl Berth almost guarenteed unless they trip themselves in the next few games leading up to the Civil War.

BCS Problem

In my writing class at Oregon State we are doing our research papers, and since we can't do anything too "polarized" (aka most everything that is interesting AND I want to do), I finally found a topic I can do: The BCS. My thesis is that a modified BCS (into a small playoff) would benefit all involved, even the sponsors. I may post my paper, or at least small snippets from it on here.

Basically my arguments are for the 5 bowl-system... top 4 teams, then the two winners face off two or three weeks later.

I may not include this in my paper, but my only problem is that the Rosebowl would not necessarily always be the Pac-10 and Big 10 bowl game, but this would be fixed with my idea of adding BYU and Utah to the Pac-12 (Utah, Oregon, and Washington schools in the North division), and using the Rosebowl as the Pac-12 Championship Game.

FSU's baseball tradition

In browsing the message boards at Rivals.com, I came across and interesting tradition at Florida State: Every home game, in the bottom of the 5th inning, the "Section B Animals" sing "O, Canada." This tradition goes back to the 1988 Calgary Olympics, when the opening ceremony occured during an FSU baseball game. The Seminoles were struggling, but in the 5th inning, after someone in Section B started humming "O, Canada" while probably thinking of the Olympics, FSU staged a comeback. Every game since then, the song has been sung by that section in the bottom of the 5th and has been joined by the waving of the Canadian flag.

There was one exception, however, in 2003. Halfway through the season, to protest Canadian hockey fans booing the Star Spangled Banner after the invasion of Iraq, the Section B Animals switched from "O, Canada" to "God Save the Queen." Along with the switch, they also replaced all the Canadian flags with the Union Jack. The crowd gave a standing ovation, and the stunt was even mentioned on Bill O'Reilly's radio show.

TCU ends OSU's season

In a tense game marred with some 6th inning drama, Oregon State's season ended in a close 5-4 game that wasn't decided until the bottom of the 9th inning. The Beavers built up a 4-0 lead after some good batting in the first and third innings, but some excellent play by TCU and some questionable play-calling with critical timing was too much for Oregon State to overcome. Despite the poor officiating, however, TCU is a very good team, and from my vantage point watching the live feed on ncaa.com, I was impressed.

In the 6th Inning, however, the TCU coaching staff displayed some poor sportsmanship when they waited until Oregon State pitcher Josh Osich got into a rhythm, striking out two batters. Seeing a good time to shake him up, they chose that moment to tell the umpire his undershirt's left sleeve was longer than the right. (It wasn't actually longer-- a shirt underneath was sticking out, but that didn't matter.) Osich had to change his shirt, and when he came back out, he was visably different. Fortunately, he survived the inning unscathed despite the bush league tactics displayed by the TCU coaches.

Oregon State can at least claim to be in the top 32 teams as they were the final team eliminated in their bracket, and they did at least return to the playoffs after a one-year absense.