Checkin’ on the Pac: Oregon State

Our latest Pac-10 interview is with Jake Bertalotto of Building the Dam.com, who was kind enough to sit down and answer some questions on the Oregon State Beavers and their 2009 campaign.

Q: Lyle Moevao and Sean Canfield have both split the quarterback duties because neither seems capable of staying healthy. If both are healthy this year, which one will be named the starter?

A: Well, the thing is that Sean Canfield is healthy right now and should be at 100% at the end of fall practices. Moevao isn’t fully healed from his shoulder surgery yet, so it’s unlikely that he would even be healthy enough to start by the opener against Portland State on September 5. I look for Canfield to start the season under center, just because Moevao isn’t quite comparable physically… yet. Once we get 3-4 games into the season, it could be a different story.

Q: Do you anticipate a sophomore slump from running back Jacquizz Rodgers?

A: I hope not… and that’s something that Beaver Nation doesn’t really want to think about right now. Being named Offensive Player of the Year in the Pac-10 as a freshman is no small accomplishment, so hopefully Quizz doesn’t start looking backwards and keeps looking to the future. This happened to Oregon State pitcher Jorge Reyes when he had a sophomore slump after being named MVP of the College World Series in 2007… it’s definitely something that could happen to Quizz. But we like to think it won’t.

Q: Why has the fly sweep been so effective with James Rodgers? He had 586 rushing yards in 2007 and 408 last year.

A: James’ speed is the number one reason. Even though OSU’s opponents can watch all the tape they want and have their defenders in perfect position, it’s still another thing to stop #8. That being said, teams are scheming to stop James, so it’s up to Danny Langsdorf at the OSU offensive staff to find new ways to disguise the fly sweep moving forward. Creativity with the fly sweep moving forward will be key.

Q: Last year, OSU had to replace all 4 starters, but still had a solid defensive line and was able to pressure the quarterback (39 sacks). Despite several departures, can the d-line handle the losses again?

A: Seems like it, as a big reason departures don’t hurt the defensive line is because of the manner in which the Beavers rotate defensive linemen. Even though the Beavers had to break in new starters last year, those were guys who were seeing significant playing time in 2007. Now, guys like Victor Butler, Perrnell Booth, and Slade Norris will be missed. But Ben Terry and Kevin Frahm should step up… and look for Steven Paea to be the leader of this year’s group.

Q: The o-line loses a bunch of starters. What kind of an impact will this have?

A: It will definitely have a big impact. Levitre and Speer are both gone on the left side, and Timi Oshinowo will miss the first part of the season most likely at right tackle. Look for Mike Remmers, a hardworking guy out of Jesuit who just got put on scholarship, and Gregg Peat, a three-year letterman, to hold down the left side. On the right, Colin Kelly, a freshman, and incoming recruit Michael Philipp could need to step up into big roles. Gregg Peat will likely start at Right Guard, however. There’s still a lot of work to do on the line though, and Coach Cav could very well do some switching around in fall camp.

Q: How important will Keaton Kristick be to a linebacker unit that loses all of its starters from 2008?

A: Very big. Keaton is a player who has really flown under the radar for a lot of his Oregon State career, but he’s getting noticed now. He was elected a team captain recently by one of the widest margins Coach Riley has ever seen, and represented the team at Thursday’s Pac-10 Media Day. I wouldn’t say that the unit lost all of it’s starters, though… Kristick started at strong-side linebacker and Keith Pankey will be back on the weak side. Dwight Roberson also played a lot last year, and will backup Pankey most likely. The most inexperienced player in the unit is David Pa’aluhi, but the Oregon State staff is very high on the sophomore, and he turned a lot of heads in spring camp.

Q: The Beavers are known for a standout secondary. Will that be any different this year?

A: Most likely… everybody is gone. Our cornerbacks that graduated have been starting games since 2005: Keenan Lewis and Brandon Hughes had a combined 90 starts at Oregon State. The new guys, who include the likes of Suaesi Tuimaunei, Lance Mitchell, and Cameron Collins are considered a more athletic group than their predecessors, and players like Tim Clark, James Dockery, Patrick Henderson, and Brandon Hardin provide some experience.

Q: It seems as if the Beavers always start slow but finish strong. Last year, they started out 2-3, but finished with a 7-1 mark. Can you point to any reasons why?

A: As Forrest Gump once said… “It happens”. Nobody really knows the exact reason. You could point to the family atmosphere created by Mike Riley and the coaching staff, and say that the team gels as the season goes on. It really seems like it has been taking these Oregon State teams a long time to find their true “identity”, but when that happens, good things happen. I think that’s the biggest reason.

Q: Where does Mike Riley rank among the top coaches in the conference and in the country?

A: For one thing, wherever we rank him, he’ll be underrated. And that’s okay. That’s how Mike Riley rolls. Personally, I like to think that he is one of the best in the business at coaching up talent. I don’t think you can point to another team in the nation that does such a good job at turning one and two star recruits into All-Conference players. Riley, Banker, Langsdorf, and the entire staff do such a good job at evaluating talent and coaching up their young players that it’s hard not to put the staff in the top tier of the Pac-10 and the nation.

Q: The Civil War between Oregon and Oregon State will now be played on Thursday night. Was this the right move?

A: Over at Building the Dam, we don’t really like it. We think that Thursday night games are a good idea– but we also think that they are increasingly being misused. Thursday night games are good for teams looking to expand on their football tradition. Usually, you see the Thursday night games played between lower-tier schools in small venues. They’re looking for the heightened television revenues, which is smart for them, but we play in the Pac-10, for goodness sakes. We shouldn’t have to play one of the conference’s biggest rivalry games on a Thursday in order to get it publicity. If the conference had the TV deal in place that it should, I don’t even think we’d be having this discussion right now. Playing a WAC team like Utah on a Thursday night? I’m okay with that. But the Civil War? Not so much. And my dear mother doesn’t like it either… Decmeber 3 is her birthday. But I suppose it was a lose-lose situation for my family… December 5, the Saturday that the game could have been played on, is my sister’s birthday. Go figure.

Q: After glancing into your crystal ball, how do you see the 2009 Beavers finishing this year?

A: I’m not one to go out and predict wins and losses before the season starts– I like to stick to the mindset that you can win on any day… unless you’re Washington State, of course. But especially for this Mike Riley team, anything is possible. The Beavers have a non-conference schedule this year (Portland State, UNLV, Cincinatti) that will be challenging, but the Beavers can win every game. And it’s hard to rule the Beavers out in games against teams like Cal, Oregon, and USC.