9/13/2017 football Edit

Does Oregon State stand a chance against Washington State?

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

Last year, the Beavers raced out to a 21 point lead against the Cougars in Reser Stadium before eventually losing. Can the Beavers play WSU close this year?

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With the Oregon State football team heading to Pullman this weekend, the Beavers know they have their work cut out for them as Washington State and their star quarterback Luke Falk have made the Beavers' secondary look just plain silly over the past few seasons.

Falk has thrown for over 1300 yards and 16 touchdowns in his three contests vs Oregon State, and he has been victorious in all three games.

In 2014, Falk was making his first career start as a Cougar when he led WSU to a 39-32 victory in Reser Stadium as a freshman. As a sophomore Falk, obliterated the Beavers in Pullman, as he threw for 407 yards and six touchdowns. He threw all six touchdowns in the first half as the Cougars led 45-17 at the break.

Falk saved his best Houdini performance for last season as he rallied the Cougars down from 21 points to defeat OSU in Reser Stadium.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture right?

Luke Falk is very good at football.

“We have to key in and hone in on our technique,” senior safety Brandon Arnold said. “Their pass game is their bread and butter. Luke Falk is a good quarterback and is one of the top QB’s in the nation. You have to give respect to him. We just have to watch a lot of film and come out here ready to play.”

So the question has to be asked. Do the Beavers have the ability to slow down Luke Falk and give themselves a chance to keep the game close and possibly win? Maybe.

For the Beavers, it has to start with their defense, which is going to be entering the matchup with the Cougars very thin at the cornerback position. Xavier Crawford and Dwayne Williams have been ruled out while Jaydon Grant is listed as doubtful. With those guys on the pine, the Beavers will be forced to play former running back Kyle White, Jay Irvine, Shawn Wilson, and perhaps Isaiah Dunn heavily at cornerback.

“Some young men are going to need to step up and play,” Gary Andersen said. “The timing (of the injuries) isn’t great when you are playing Washington State with the way they throw the football. It’s an opportunity for young kids to step up. We’ve recruited some youth in the secondary in the last few years, so those kids are going to be able to play this week. They are going to need to be ready to go.”

Defensive Coordinator Kevin Clune has been under heavy scrutiny since the start of the season because of OSU’s lack of defensive presence. The Beavers had high expectations on defense coming into this season and OSU has fallen far short through their first three games. Clune noted that the Beavers have to continue to grow as a team and be ready to go each week.

“Washington State is a whole different animal than what we saw last week so we have to adjust everything we do to their offense,” Clune said. “Luke Falk is a very good player so we have to deal with all the stuff that he brings to the table.”

Clune had nothing but praise for the former walk-on Falk and added what he sees when he looks at Falk on tape.

“Patience. He knows exactly what he wants to do,” Clune said. “When he sees a defense that he knows, he knows exactly where he wants to go. If he doesn’t like what he sees, he finds those running backs. Falk has patience and finds his guys.”

One bit of good news for the Beavers is that they have several emerging safeties in David Morris and Jalen Moore who are beginning to set the tone for the OSU defense. Moore has to sit out the first half of the game due to a targeting call in the Beavs' loss to Minnesota.

“You see a lot of energy from those guys,” Arnold added. “David just wants to get out there and just go regardless of what the scoreboard says and give 110 percent. You love that because that type of energy feeds off to other people. Both David and Jalen both continue to learn and apply it to the field.”

In terms of OSU’s offense, they can play a big role too. One of the best ways to shut down a high-powered offense like Washington State’s is to keep their offense on the sideline. For years and years, the best defense against Oregon’s groundbreaking, up-tempo spread offense was to have an offense that could stay on the field and grind out possessions that chewed up a ton of clock.

The Beavers did this effectively against the Ducks last season as Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce kept the Ducks offense on sideline for most of the second half as the Beavers were able to come away victorious.

From my perspective, if you could combine a solid defensive performance with being able to control the clock, I believe OSU has a chance to come out on top against Washington State. However, a big part of that theory is being solid on defense. OSU hasn’t proven they can be solid on defense for four quarters, but perhaps this is the week that they can put it all together.

“Maturity, and discipline and all those cliches that get talked about, you have to do it for 60 minutes,” Clune said. “If we lose our eyes on this play or that play, it could go (for a score). We have to be disciplined and eye discipline has to be perfect. We have to be gap disciplined in the run game and all those different things. It has to be proven on Saturday’s. We can do it at practice, but nobody sees it. It matters on Saturday’s and we have to get it done.”