Oregon State Beavers Football: Tuesday Notebook

With their final road game of the season on tap this Saturday, the Oregon State football team will look to find their footing against the Washington Huskies. While Chris Petersen's squad hasn't met their preseason expectations, they still pose perhaps the most top-to-bottom talent and best coached team in the Pac-12.

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While the Oregon State football team is surely to be focused on the game itself, perhaps the biggest storyline surrounding the Beavers' trip to Seattle is the return of Jonathan Smith to Seattle. Smith spent the past six seasons with Chris Petersen, including the past four at Washington as offensive coordinator.

The Beavers have plenty of coaches with former experience in the Pac-12, most notably offensive-coordinator Brian Lindgren and offensive-line coach Jim Michalczik, among others. Lindgren, who was able to defeat his former-foe when the Beavers' traveled to Colorado several weeks ago, noted that it will be a day full of emotions for Smith.

"There's going to be a lot of emotions for him going back," Lindgren said. "There's a lot of connections that you have with former players, coaches, and staff, and I know it was a very special experience for me. He'll be going through a lot of emotions this week and it will be an exciting opportunity."

Receiver Trevon Bradford, who's blossomed into one of the more dangerous slot receivers in the Pac-12, noted that Smith offered some deeper insights to the Huskies given his familiarity, but that it only goes so far since Smith has been removed for nearly a year.

"(Coach Smith) knows UW really well schematically in terms of what they do on offense and defense," Bradford said. "Personnel wise, he gave us a little bit more insight on the players, but other than that, its pretty much business as usual because we won't know what they're going to come and do."

If there's been an achilles heel for the Oregon State offense in 2018, it's been pass-protection, or lack thereof. The Beavers are dead last in the FBS with 44 sacks allowed and the next closest team is Louisville with 38. There's no doubt that the Beavers simply have to be better up front in protecting their quarterback, and it's something that left-tackle Blake Brandel says they're consistently working on.

"Our pass protection starts with the communication up front," Brandel said. "Between that and focusing on our technique, that's the biggest thing we can improve on. When you get tired, your mind kind of gets distracted and you sort of get in trouble with sets. We have to keep focus throughout drives to play at our best."

Coming into the season, the offensive-line was thought to be one of the strengths for the 2018 Beavers as they welcomed back five players who had all had starting experience. However, that veteran-madden group hasn't produced the results the Beavers' expected.

"We've definitely had our struggles, but we're continuing to work at it," Brandel said. "I've got the utmost confidence in our guys and I think we have a great o-line. We have to continue to improve on communication, technique, and channeling our focus. If we do all that, we'll be fine."

Lindgren, who's steered the OSU offense to a much-better-than-expected season in 2018, knows that the Beavers need to protect their quarterback better, but it's not just on the offensive-line.

"It's something that we've been talking about a lot because it's been an issue for us all year," Lindgren said. "It's not just on the offensive line... they've got a lot of stuff to clean up, but it's just as much on the quarterback for not getting rid of the ball, it's on the receivers to have urgency on routes... there's a lot of different factors, but the bottom line is that we can't continue to take sacks at the rate we have and we have to keep improving."

With the Beavers' final road trip of the season being a short one up to Seattle this weekend, it's worth noting that the 2018 Huskies aren't the Huskies that went to the College Football Playoff several seasons ago. Gone are the likes of current NFL players Vita Vea, Kevin King, John Ross and others, but Petersen and Co. still boast on the most dynamic defenses in the country, allowing just 16 points per game, and just over 300 yards per game.

"Year in and year out, Washington is one of the top defenses in the Pac-12, if not the country," Lindgren said. "They're really sound and the coaches do a hell of a job of preparing those guys, and they've got a lot of veteran players who have played a lot of snaps on defense. It's going to be a big challenge for us, but it's also an opportunity for our guys to measure themselves against some quality competition."