Sunday Stock Report

Cornerback Xavier Crawford

Crawford was just a two-star recruit in the class of 2014 that was grayshirted by Oregon State. The Beavers were the only Power Five conference school to offer him as well. In his first playing year at Oregon State, Crawford has made the most of his opportunities - and them some. The Beavers' defense has been plagued with injuries, but Crawford has started all nine games this season. He registered five solo tackles and his first career sack against Stanford. Who leads the Beavers in solo tackles? Chappell, Hungalu, or Saulo? Nope. Redshirt freshman Xavier Crawford with 42. He also leads the Beavers with eight pass break ups. Crawford is a superstar in the making.

Linebackers

Kudos to both the inside and outside linebackers for Oregon State. First of all, I want to give some love to Caleb Saulo and Manase Hungalu. They've played well this season but have not been mentioned in the stock up portion of this article. Saulo is a stud that will be hard for the Beavers to replace next year. He is a very good blitzer from his inside linebacker spot. Next up, the outside linebackers need credit. Shemar Smith, Joah Robinett, Shemiah Unutoa-Whitson, and Titus Failauga have suffered injuries at the outside linebacker spot, and it has truly been a "next man up" situation. Bright Ugwoegbu has played in every game, but outside of him, it's been a revolving door of young players at the opposite outside linebacker spot. With Ugwoegbu being suspended for the first half, Adam Soesman started in his place and Andrzej Hughes-Murray started as well. The OSU front seven has been much improved after the first few weeks when they were struggling to pressure on the opposing quarterback.

Pass defense

Stanford's quarterback play has not been very good this season, but they still have capable receivers that could've given the Oregon State secondary fits. They limited Keller Chryst to just 60 yards passing on 17 attempts. Treston Decoud and Xavier Crawford had strong performances, as well as Devin Chappell (at safety and nickel), Jalen Moore, and Brandon Arnold at safety. Shawn Wilson had a nice pass break up on a hail mary.

Kicking game

Once again, the kicking game is a struggle for Oregon State. Nick Porebski was less than stellar on his punts, and Garrett Owens missed a 26 yarder after the Beavers recovered a fumble on Stanford's opening drive. Making a field goal on that drive would've really helped Oregon State with momentum.

Co-Offensive Coordinators

I don't know what the answers are for Oregon State's offense, but I don't need to give them. It's not my job. It is Kevin McGiven and TJ Woods' job though. Gary Andersen is a defensive coach that leaves the offense in the hands of McGiven and Woods. Sure, Oregon State is not one of the better teams in the Pac-12, but they have weapons on offense and have an offensive line that is giving their quarterbacks time to throw. They have weapons at wide receiver and running back. They have Seth Collins, who I personally think should be used a lot more at quarterback. Oregon State could leave Collins in the game at quarterback for a full drive - using him as a wildcat quarterback and having him throw in a drop back setting, which would completely surprise the defense. At the end of the day, Oregon State has to do something new.

Passing game

In McGivens and Woods' offense, their quarterbacks and wide receivers have not helped them much this season. In the first half of last week's game against Washington State, Marcus McMaryion was 16-of-23 for 234 yards and two touchdowns. Victor Bolden had 109 yards receiving and Collins had 81. The Beavers ran the ball 15 times as well. I say this to show that what McGiven calls will work if the players execute, which they have not done for the majority of the season. McMaryion is inaccurate and his receivers are not getting separation, and they've dropped some passes as well. McMaryion was not sacked and had a lot of time to throw against Stanford. He just didn't deliver.