Oregon State Beavers Football: Monday Notebook
5 takeaways from the analytics
With our partners at Pro Football Focus, BeaversEdge.com gets an in-depth look at analytics of the Beavers. Here are five takeaways from PFF's information from the OSU-ASU game.
1. Oregon State was horrid in tackling. The Beavers had a tackling grade of 40.1 against ASU (60-69 is considered an average grade). Also according to PFF, the Beavers had 26 missed tackles. Yikes. Of the 25 players who saw snaps on defense for Oregon State, nine had tackling grades of under 50.0. The analytics back up what Jonathan Smith called the "largest topic" postgame, which was tackling.
2. Pass rush was bad as well. Kalani Vakameilalo was credited for two quarterback hurries, Kee Whetzel had a hit on Manny Wilkins, and Shawn Wilson had a quarterback hurry. That's it for QB pressure. The Beavers' highest graded pass rusher was Vakameilalo with a pass rush grade of 63.3. That's not good.
3. Offensive grades weren't very good either. The Beavs had better offensive grades than defensive but nothing very notable. Gus Lavaka had the best overall offensive grade at 78.6 thanks to a strong run blocking effort. Jermar Jefferson had an incredible game rushing, but his overall grade was just 70.1. His pass blocking grade of 20.5 brought his overall score down.
4. Blount struggled when under pressure. We've seen that Blount can get happy feet in the pocket and scramble when he doesn't need to. I thought he did a better job with that on Saturday, but when ASU got after him, he really struggled. Blount was considered "under pressure" ten times, and he was 2-of-4 for 8 yards and a touchdown and was sacked four times and threw the ball away once. Of course, quarterbacks are more prone to struggle when under pressure, but to have a more successful passing game, you have to make defenses pay for blitzing, and a lot of that is put on the offensive line.
5. Shawn Wilson had a strong outing. He was graded as the Beavs' best defender with a grade of 77.3. ASU threw at him three times but didn't complete a pass and recorded a pass break up.
Jermar Jefferson is amazing
Arizona State's Eno Benjamin is second in the Pac-12 in rushing with 595 yards. The leader in rushing yards? Jermar Jefferson with 727 yards. He also leads the conference in rushing touchdowns (8), yards per game (145.4), and rushing attempts (105).
Still not impressed? Think about it; Jefferson has 727 rushing yards. Through five games. Last season, Ryan Nall had 810 rushing yards in 11 games. Oregon State's last 1,000 yard rusher? In 2010, Jacquizz Rodgers.
Oregon State's 2018 season has not been great so far, but Jefferson sure is a very bright spot. If he stays healthy (knock on wood), he will surely be a freshman All-American and get over 1,000 rushing yards.
Interestingly enough, Jefferson is having much more success running to the right than he is the left. Coming into the season, the left side of the O-line was considered to be stronger with veterans Blake Brandel and Gus Lavaka on that side, but 450 of his 727 yards have been off the right side of the line.
Beavers' offense still one of the best in the conference
After playing poorly against Arizona, the Beavers' offense got things going against ASU, despite a slow start. The Beavers are sixth in the conference in points per game (30.4), fifth in total yards per game (445.0), third in rushing yardage (995), and sixth in first downs (112).
Oregon State's defense looks pretty similar to what we saw last season, but the offense has been much improved, which is a very welcomed sight. John Canzano's tweet on September 1 rings true: "Oregon State offense will help sell tickets. Oregon State defense will help sell beers."
Defensive woes continue
Beaver fans may just want to skip the final portion of this article. Oregon State is worst in the Pac-12 in the following defensive categories: points per game (45.2), yards per game (543.6, UCLA is second worst at 421.5.), total sacks (5), rush yards allowed per game (303.4), and pass yards per game (240.2).
The defense will certainly be better next year with the likes of Jay Irvine, Jeromy Reichner, and David Morris healthy and the additions of Avery Roberts and Addison Gumbs. The Beavers have to get better in the front seven.