This time last year things were not looking good for Beaver football, after being upset by Sacramento State and getting shutout by Wisconsin, OSU opened the 2011 Pac-12 season with yet another loss at home to UCLA.
Cut to this week and the Beavers are 2-0 with a #18 national ranking after upsetting Wisconsin and UCLA, due to a ferocious defense and an offense that is full of weapons.
OSU is hoping to ride this early 2012 season momentum into this Saturday, as they face a dangerous Arizona squad.
After the #22 Wildcats were embarrassed by U of O 49-0 last Saturday, they will surely be looking to bounce back this week against the Beavs.
OSU has won the last five meetings between the teams in Tucson, but only by a combined 19 points, so this matchup is shaping up to be a tight game.
Even with the shutout last week Arizona’s offense, lead by first year head coach Rich Rodriguez and the play of quarterback Matt Scott, has already been averaging 536 yards a game.
Head coach Mike Riley discussed the passing attack of the Cats, which is currently leading the Pac-12 with 301 yards per game.
“They have adapted very well to that offense and Rich walked into a deal where he really placed people in good spots to make plays and he’s got a quarterback that fits his system, so they are a very productive football team.”
Matt Scott has been performing at a very high level and has thrown for 1205 yards with 7 touchdowns on the season. Running back Ka’DeeM Carey has been a consistent force for the Cats this season as well with an average of 105 yards per game.
Riley went on to address how the OSU defense will try and slow down Arizona’s aggressive offense.
“You know they’re going to gain some yards, you got to tackle and you got to Minimize they plays they do make and make sure they don’t get away from you.”
However if one thing is true after the Beavs first two games, the defense knows how to shut down an explosive offense.
After ending the Heisman hopes of both Wisconsin’s Montee Ball and UCLA’s Jonathan Franklin by holding them both to under 50 yards, its clear the OSU defense is here to stay.
The real test this week will be how the Beaver offense performs after an impressive showing last week.
Along with Sean Mannion throwing for a career high 379 yards with two touchdowns, the Beavs running game was also an impact, lead by Storm Woods who rushed for 148 yards.
These strong numbers, paired with explosive plays from receivers Marcus Wheaton and Brandin Cooks gave Beaver Nation hope for the future of this offense.
Senior Marcus Wheaton had 9 catches for 150 yards and one touchdown on the afternoon, picking up some hard earned extra yards after every catch.
Just as scary to opposing defenses was Brandin Cooks who put up 6 catches for 176 yards including a 75 yard touchdown that left the UCLA secondary in the dust.
After Thursday’s practice, Cooks who celebrated his 19th birthday this past Tuesday, was optimistic about this Saturday’s game.
AC) What was the team’s reaction this week to the #18 ranking?
BC) We were all pretty excited about it, but we got to come in and keep working hard because as we know rankings in the beginning of the season don’t mean anything, it’s how you finish. But it lets us know that we’ve put in work and still have a lot more to improve on.
AC) Has that provided motivation in practice this week?
BC) It’s motivation, because a lot of people out there are still doubting us and when people doubt you it just gives you that much more fire to prove them wrong and work harder.
AC) Did it feel good to have a breakout performance last week against a good team like UCLA?
BC) It felt good but I got to come back this week and hopefully do the same thing, and help my team out. I still have a lot to improve on, there were a lot of mistakes out there that I made and little things that I got to improve on.
AC) And Arizona does have a good defense, are you guys hoping to use that chemistry from last week to play well this game.
BC) Oh yeah, I mean coming into this game with that confidence and hopefully we can click like that again. We’ve been preparing for that and have had a great week of practice and we’re going to go down there and do the same thing.
AC) There seems to be a special vibe around the team this year, has there been a certain thing that has caused that?
BC) I guess you could say how the season went last year, we didn’t want that same outcome. A 3-9 season didn’t feel too good and spending Christmas at home doesn’t feel too good when you have to watch other people play. We just had a lot more motivation and hard work this off season, and came in and attacked it.
With attitudes like this from all the Beaver players and coaches OSU fans can’t help be excited about this year’s squad.
This Saturday will be another test in what should be a season full of big games for OSU.
And with the opportunity to go in and be 3-0 after only winning a total of three games all last season, there is a sense motivation for this Beavers team.
Even with only two games under their belt this team has made it clear that their goal is a trip to the Rose Bowl, which is starting to seem like more of a possibility with every performance.
OSU takes on Arizona under the lights in Tucson, Saturday September 29th at 7pm on the Pac-12 Network.
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