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Oregon State Beavers Football: Tuesday Notebook

With just the Civil War left in the 2018 season, the Oregon State Football team will be looking to send its seniors out on a high note against the Ducks. BeaversEdge.com senior writer Brenden Slaughter was in Corvallis for the Beavers’ offensive availability and has all the important storylines.

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Scouting the Ducks

With their arch-rival coming to town on Friday, the Oregon State offense figures to have their hands full with a very aggressive Oregon defense. After the sudden departure of Willie Taggart last offseason, the Ducks doubled-down on defense and made defensive-coordinator Jim Leavitt one of the highest paid assistants in college football at 1.15 million per year.

Leavitt and Beavers offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren each held the same positions at Colorado during the 2015 and 2016 seasons and know each other quite well. Despite Leavitt being one of the best DC’s in the country, Lindgren says that he isn’t too complex in terms of the defense he puts on the field, but rather just has superb execution.

“He’s one of the best football coaches I’ve been around and was fortunate enough to coach with,” Lindgren said. “He gets those guys to play extremely hard, and when he was the DC at Colorado, we were damn good on defense.”

If the Beavers are to pull out a victory against the Ducks on Friday, it will come because the team did something they haven’t done for four quarters all season.

Execute.

“It all about execution,” Lindgren said. “We always say, execute at a high-level for four quarters and we haven’t done that yet. At times, we’ve done it well and been able to move the ball and score some points. We have to take care of the football, execute at a high-level for four quarters to give ourselves a chance.”

The Ducks will certainly pose plenty of issues on the line of scrimmage given that they have the size and athletic ability to play with just about anyone up front. Jordon Scott, Jalen Jelks, Lamar Winston, and Troy Dye will look to make it difficult sledding for Jermar Jefferson and Co.

“We’ve got to match their physicality,” Lindgren said. “A Jim Leavitt defense is going to pride themselves on playing physical and getting after you. It will be a challenge for our offensive line to match them for four quarters.”

Added offensive line coach Jim Michalczik: “Oregon (has a) stout run defense that is very active in the pass rush. (Jordon Scott) is a load.. He plays hard and plays low. They’re a very well coached team and they make you earn everything you get.”

Quarterback Jake Luton knows that if the Beavers want to send their seniors out on a high-note, they’ll need to hone in on near-perfect execution against the Ducks.

“They’re talented, fast, and they really fly around,” Luton said of the Ducks’ defense. “They make a lot of plays and we’re going to have to be on our game and be consistent to come out on top. We just have to execute the plays and the calls that we’re given. We’re put in good situations to be able to do that and sometimes we just miss out on those. It can’t happen, especially against a good team like Oregon.”

Luton focused on the here and now 

One of the more under-the-radar storylines that emerged during OSU’s 42-23 loss to Washington on Saturday was that Pac-12 Network analyst Yogi Roth mentioned that Luton and the Beavers were looking into a sixth year of eligibility.

Luton, who missed all but four games in 2017 with a thoracic spine fracture, in addition to missing four games this season with a high-ankle sprain. Translation? Luton has missed 12 games in two seasons.

The NCAA is extremely fickle, and you never know what they’re thinking in any given situation (See Brandon Kipper or Payton Dastrup) but when the facts are this clear, it’s a no brainer that the NCAA should award him a sixth season. Missing 12 games in two years is like having an entire season taken away and while Luton might be on the outside looking in when it comes to next year's’ quarterback rotation, the benefits of him returning and being granted a sixth year would be limitless.

Jonathan Smith didn’t have too much to say about Luton’s process during his Monday press conference and when Luton met the media on Tuesday, he, like Smith, was very coy in what his plans were.

“I try not to think about too much right now,” Luton said. “As far as that goes, there’s nothing really set in stone. We’ve still got one game left and I’m trying to focus on that. When the time comes, and I can make that decision, I’ll definitely look into it.”

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