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The Sun Devils couldn't overcome their mistakes, losing 31-28 to the Beavers on Saturday night in Corvallis.
First, lets get some quotes from the home team’s blog, Building The Dam.
Oregon State 28, Arizona State 17: I actually have a really good feeling about this one. That all changes if James is out, but even then I see us winning a close one.
Arizona State has proven they can compete in the Pac-10. They’ve been playing like a focused group that has a chip on their shoulder, but they haven’t done enough to break through in their two marquee matchups with top-15 teams.
Now, lets go to House Of Sparky.
Essentially, these programs are exactly where you’d expect them to be: one tier below the big boys, but still full of potential. This could be a great game with two underrated squads facing off.
I personally believe that the Sun Devils can pull this game off. They are looking for real wins, not moral ones after all.
October 2: Road game against Oregon State (1-2, losses to Boise State and TCU)
The Beavers are probably the best 1-2 team in the Pac-10. They are a work in progress with a new quarterback, but they should not be ignored.
Prediction: ASU Wins
So there you have it, folks. Both blogs think their team will win – isn’t that the hallmark of the Pac-10 this season?
FACTS & STATS: Site: Reser Stadium (43,000) -- Corvallis, Oregon. Television: FSN-NW. Home Record: Arizona St. 2-1, Oregon St. 1-0. Away Record: Arizona St. 0-1, Oregon St. 0-1. Neutral Record: Arizona St. 0-0, Oregon St. 0-1. Conference Record: Arizona St. 0-1, Oregon St. 0-0. Series Record: Arizona State leads, 24-11-1.
GAME NOTES: The Arizona State Sun Devils invade Corvallis this weekend for a Pac-10 scuffle with the Oregon State Beavers.
Arizona State opened the season with back-to-back victories over FCS opponents, but the team has lost its last two outings to powerful FBS squads. After falling to Big Ten foe Wisconsin two weeks ago on the road, the Sun Devils dropped a 42-31 decision to Oregon in the Pac-10 opener last weekend.
As for Oregon State, it has played two elite teams through the first three games, and both of those contests resulted in defeat. The Beavers, who were knocked off by TCU in the opener before beating Louisville at home, had the unenviable task of doing battle with Boise State on the "smurf turf" last weekend. Oregon State put forth a solid effort, but the Broncos won that game by a 37-24 final.
Arizona State owns a 24-11-1 series advantage over Oregon State, but the Beavers have won the last two meetings.
Arizona State is scoring 36.2 ppg this season while generating an impressive 495.0 total ypg. The leader of the offense is Steven Threet, who has completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 1,228 yards with eight touchdowns. Sure, Threet has made some mistakes, having thrown seven interceptions thus far, but he is certainly a playmaker under center. Mike Willie and Aarin Pflugrad have both hauled in 18 receptions, and Deantre Lewis paces the backfield with 278 yards rushing. Lewis is averaging a staggering 9.6 yards per carry.
Looking at the game against Oregon last week, ASU posted 597 total yards, winning the yardage battle convincingly over the Ducks. Unfortunately, the Sun Devils turned the ball over a staggering total of seven times, including four interceptions by Threet. The quarterback completed 30-of-53 passes for 387 yards with three touchdowns and was sacked four times. Willie caught a pair of touchdown passes, and Lewis rushed for 127 yards and a score.
Opponents are scoring 22.8 ppg against Arizona State this season, and the Sun Devils are yielding 334.8 total ypg. They have certainly played well against the run, limiting foes to 113.8 ypg on an average of 3.2 ypc. Against the pass, they are giving up 12.5 yards per completion, a figure that can certainly stand some improvement. On a positive note, ASU has five interceptions while having allowed just four passing scores. Vontaze Burfict has been a key component of the defense, as he has registered 33 tackles, including 5.5 TFLs.
Against Oregon, the ASU defense was obviously put in bad positions by Threet and the offense all day. No defense can be expected to overcome seven turnovers by an offense, and while the Sun Devil defenders weren't perfect against the Ducks by any means, they did play well in many regards. For example, ASU held Oregon to 2-of-13 success on third-down conversion attempts, and the fact that the Ducks only held possession of the ball for 25:26 despite all the turnovers is remarkable.
Oregon State is generating 26.7 ppg this season to go along with a poor average of 270.3 total ypg. The strength of the offense was expected to be the ground attack with Jacquizz Rodgers toting the rock. Rodgers has rushed for four touchdowns, but he has just 253 yards on the ground and is averaging a modest 4.2 ypc. James Rodgers, the team's top receiver and the brother of Jacquizz, leads OSU with nine catches for 113 yards. Unfortunately, James was the victim of a vicious hit in the Boise State game and suffered a concussion. His status for this weekend is uncertain.
The quarterback of the Beavers is Ryan Katz, a sophomore who has looked the part of an inexperienced signal caller thus far. Katz has completed only 46.8 percent of his tosses for 460 yards, but to his credit he has tossed five touchdowns without a single interception. In the loss to Boise State, Katz only completed 12 of his 26 attempts for 159 yards. Jacquizz Rodgers was bottled up, as the tailback only gained 46 yards on 18 carries.
There is certainly room for improvement on the defensive side of the ball for Oregon State, which is yielding 31.7 ppg and 458.3 total ypg. There has been extreme vulnerability against both the run and the pass, as foes are gaining 206.0 ypg on the ground and 252.3 ypg through the air. OSU has come up with five takeaways, but only two sacks have been registered through 12 quarters of play.
Boise State has one of the nation's most explosive offensive units, so it came as no surprise that the Broncos posted 37 points against the Beavers. Oregon State permitted 469 total yards, including 294 yards and four touchdowns through the air.
It is hard to believe that Oregon State is 1-2 thus far considering the fact that the team has yet to commit a single turnover. The Beavers will even their record with a victory over Arizona State, but expect the game to be close from start to finish.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Oregon State 31, Arizona State 27
October 2nd, 6:30 p.m. (et)
Steven Threet threw four interceptions and had a hand in a lost fumble when one of his passes was ruled a lateral and therefore, a fumble that the Oregon Ducks recovered and returned for a touchdown last Saturday night.
One of Threet's interceptions was also a pick-six, returned for a touchdown.
The Arizona State quarterback seems unflappable and appeared to have put all the mistakes behind him on Monday when he spoke to the press. Still, ASU coach Dennis Erickson said he'll talk to Threet and tell him to stay confident leading up to ASU-Oregon State game this Saturday in Corvallis, Ore.
"I don't have any loss of confidence in Steven Threet at all," Erickson said. "He had a bad game. He made some mental mistakes. There's no questions about it. That's what comes with that position. What we do offensively, every time the football is snapped, for the most part, he's got to make a decision. That puts a lot on a quarterback."
Erickson said Threet made some bad decisions on where to throw the ball. The last two picks, Erickson reasoned, were a matter of Threet trying to make a play late in the Devils' loss to the Ducks.
"You take the good with the bad, and you've just got to learn and get better and he will," Erickson said. "He wants to be the best he can be."
Threet could be without his left tackle, Dan Knapp, who is questionable to play this weekend because of injury. Should that be the case, Erickson said right guard Evan Finkenberg will move to left tackle and Andrew Sampson, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound sophomore will slide in at right guard. The Sun Devils will also give some playing time to junior Aderious Simmons at right tackle.
The Sun Devils coaches are also mulling the possibility of starting Deantre Lewis at tailback over Cameron Marshall. Lewis gained 192 total yards against Oregon.
Threet acknowledged he has to make better throws and correct mistakes, but that after Saturday, he'd moved on.
"You come in Sunday and you watch the film and you've got to learn from it," Threet said. "You can't let it affect preparation for the next game."
"It's frustrating to play two very good teams (Wisconsin, Oregon) and be that close, play well offensively but not get points when we should," Threet added. "But at the same time it's exciting because we are very close. We correct these mistakes and we can be there."
To get there, ASU has to start with beating the Beavers on the road. Oregon State is 1-2 and lost to a pair of ranked teams, TCU and Boise State, on the road.
"That's a tough non-league schedule and they had a chance to win both football games," Erickson said. "So they're a quality football team. They've got a lot of experience coming back. Anytime you have the Rodgers brothers, they seem like they've been there for a hundred years. I don't know when they're going to graduate. Soon I hope. They're so talented and they make so many plays that they're just exceptional football players."
Those brothers would be senior wide receiver James and junior tailback Jacquizz. They are the main targets for the Beavers on offense.
"Their quarterback, Ryan Katz, is a guy that we tried to recruit. Very talented and huge arm," Erickson said. "Like Steven, he's just learning. On defense they don't change their scheme much. They've got ends that can come up the football field."
Close is OK but not good enough for ASU, which won't play a game at home until Oct. 30 against Washington State.
"We've got to find a way to win a game, that's the bottom line," Erickson said. "We're playing pretty decent. I'm happy where we're at, other than we had a chance to win two football games and we didn't. I like the attitude. I like where they're at. I like their mindset when I met with them Sunday about where they're at and where they can go. We've got to be road warriors for the next month."
Recap: Sun Devils Fall, 31-28 To Oregon State
Corvallis, OR (Sports Network) – Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns as he helped lead the Oregon State Beavers to a 31-28 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils in Pac-10 Conference action at Reser Stadium.
Rodgers carried the ball 24 times for the Beavers (2-2, 1-0 Pac-10) as they won for the second time in the last three outings. Ryan Katz hit on 19-of-29 passes for 260 yards and two more touchdowns for OSU in the home victory.
The Sun Devils (2-3, 0-2) managed to close the gap in the second half, but quarterback Steven Threet had his issues throughout the contest as he converted 14-of-29 for 203 yards and a touchdown. However, Threet was also sacked six times and saw three of his pass attempts picked off. Deantre Lewis gained 104 yards and scored once on 20 carries.
The opening drive of the game resulted in a 39-yard TD pass from Threet to Gerell Robinson at the 12:41 mark of the first quarter, but from there the Beavers tallied three straight scores to take control.
Justin Kahut’s 27-yard field goal, followed by a four-yard TD run by Jacquizz Rodgers and a 27-yard scoring pass from Katz to Aaron Nichols gave the home team a 17-7 advantage three minutes into the second quarter.
Lewis capped off a nine-play, 69-yard drive for the Sun Devils when he crossed the goal line on a four-yard effort, cutting the deficit to 17-14, but with just 20 seconds remaining in the first half Katz combined with Joe Halahuni on a 19-yard TD play to push OSU back out to a 24-14 lead at the break.
Arizona State kicker Thomas Weber made good on field goal attempts of 45 and 25 yards in the second half to draw the Sun Devils to within four points at 24-20.
After the second successful conversion by Weber, Jacquizz Rodgers stepped in for the Beavers and raced 74 yards to the end zone on the first play from scrimmage for OSU, a scramble that turned out to be the game-winning score for the hosts.
A 21-yard touchdown run by ASU’s Cameron Marshall with less than three minutes to play in the contest, plus a successful two-point conversion between Threet and Marshall made the score 31-28, but that was as close as the visitors would come.
Arizona State ran a total of 80 plays, 20 more than the Beavers, yet it was OSU that generated 416 yards of offense compared to only 364 for the Sun Devils.
Oct 02 8:12p by Cory Williams - 0 comments