Oregon State Beavers Football: Tuesday Notebook

While on paper it may seem that the Beavers are playing a much lesser opponent this week, Southern Utah is a very solid football team that can give OSU fits if they don’t come with the same intensity that they did against the Buckeyes.

Southern Utah won the Big Sky in 2017 with a 9-3 record and an FCS playoff berth, but dropped their season opener to Division II opponent North Alabama 34-30 in what was considered to be an upset for the Lions.

The good news for Oregon State’s offense is that since they found success against one of the nations best defenses in Ohio State, they should be able to replicate that against an FCS school. The Thunderbirds only returned five starters from last years’ defense and it showed in their opener as they looked vulnerable, particularly defending mobile quarterbacks.

North Alabama’s quarterback Christian Lopez went wild against Southern Utah as he threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns while also adding 105 rushing yards and one score on the ground. While the Beavers’ don’t quite have a QB with the same skills as Lopez, both Conor Blount and Jack Colletto have the ability to run more of a zone-read scheme.

“(Being mobile) is something that I bring to the table and it’s something I like to do,” Blount said. “If that’s what the coaches call, let’s do it.”

The Big Sky has proven to be been a headache of the Beavers and their fans since the 2011 season as OSU has lost twice -- Sacramento State in 2011 and Eastern Washington in 2013 -- and had several too close for comfort games against Weber State in 2015 and Portland State in 2017.

Offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren is quite familiar with the Big Sky conference with his time spent as an assistant with Northern Arizona from 2006-11. He knows that Southern Utah will bring a very tough football team to Reser Stadium.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for them and for their program as a whole,” Lindgren said. “They won the Big Sky Conference and I coached in that conference as did a lot of our coaches and it’s a really good conference. They really fly to the ball on defense and do some nice things. We’re going to have our hands full and we’re going to have to have a good week of practice to be ready to roll on Saturday.”

While the Beavers didn’t reach their goal of upsetting the Buckeyes on the road, there were plenty of moments that inspired optimism on offense under the direction of this new coaching staff.

Offensively, the Beavers handled the pressure of the moment extremely well, most notably exemplified by Blount who was handed the keys to the Beaver offense after the first drive of the game when Luton went down. Blount went 12-for-19 for 169 yards and two scores in relief duty and looked the part of a solid starting quarterback.

For the past several seasons, I’ve been very high on Blount’s ability to throw the ball downfield with touch. While he’s still far from a finished product, Blount showed everyone that he can compete with the highest competition and has the leadership qualities needed from a starting quarterback.

“The mindset is that we’re playing Ohio State every week,” Blount said. “We haven’t arrived. We’re coming off a season that we’re not happy with and a game against Ohio State that at the end of the day is a loss. If we treat every team like that, we can do some good things.”

Wide receiver Trevon Bradford, who had his best game as a Beaver against Ohio State, knows that Blount is always going to give the Beavers a chance to be successful.

“Conor has always been a really confident player,” Bradford said. “He’s really confident in his abilities and we know what he can do once he gets in a game and there’s really no drop off between him and Jake. We believe in Conor and what he brings to the table.”

Bradford, who was on the receiving end of both Blount’s touchdowns, said that the endzone fade from Blount just might have been the best pass he’s caught during his time at OSU.

“Oh absolutely,” Bradford said of Blount’s throw. “He put it exactly where it needed to be for me to get a chance to go get it.”

With Luton’s status still very much up in the air as of Tuesday, the Beavers are confident that if he’s unable to go, they’ll be in a good spot with Blount.

“I like Conor,” Lindgren said. “It was a tight competition all the way through spring and fall and I really liked his demeanor and how he carried himself out there on gameday. I would feel very comfortable if he was the guy on Saturday.”

For more on the quarterback situation for the Beavs, including insights on Tristan Gebbia, click here.