Oregon State looks to improve on its start against Utah

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

CORVALLIS — Kyle DeVan is majoring in business administration, but could work as a life coach on the side.

Soon after the Oregon State football team’s victory Thursday over Utah to begin the season, the center was rallying his teammates to look forward to the next game.

The Beavers go on the road for the second game of the season to take on Big East Conference opponent Cincinnati at 4:30 p.m. this Thursday.

DeVan was happy with the win, but was constructively critical of himself and his other linemen. They are expected to carry the offense with two new quarterbacks still competing for playing time.

“We can improve,” DeVan said. “We have to come into this week and get ready for Cincinnati and get better. The first week is never your best week.”

And it gets harder with the lower leg injury to standout guard Jeremy Perry, who will be out at least six weeks.

Junior Adam Speer takes over for him. He has done that before, so the line should hold up if it stays healthy. However, the younger players must be prepared to be the next to go in if needed.

Cincinnati poses another tough challenge for the Beavers. The Bearcats are coming off a blowout victory over Southeast Missouri State at home Thursday.

Their spread offense and aggressive defense were dominant against a lesser foe, while the Beavers defeated a strong mid-major program.

So it’s going to be hard to judge the matchup.

“It will be interesting,” coach Mike Riley said. “They will be a good program. This program has made a run at the national level.”

Defensive and special teams execution went well for the Beavers against Utah, but there’s work to be done on the offense.

Both quarterbacks improved as the game went on, but it wasn’t as smooth as Riley wants.

Taking them on the road will help him sort out his team, and show if Sean Canfield or Lyle Moevao is ready for foreign arenas.

“At this point, it’s good for us to do this,” Riley said. “It’s a long trip and they are a good team. It will be different (hotter) weather than we are used to. It will be good for us.”

The other concern this week will be the catchable dropped passes by the wide receivers. Riley counted six of them after reviewing the Utah video.

He considered it first-game jitters, but expects that to change immediately.

“You wish you could have them back, but drops happen,” Canfield said. “There are things that are going to go wrong in a game. They didn’t affect me. I didn’t think about them too much. The guys were open and I went to the right guys with the right decision. It’s just a matter of finishing.”

So it goes back to the improvement of the offensive linemen. They opened enough holes for the team to rush for 241 yards, 165 by tailback Yvenson Bernard.

The passing game contributed 129 yards and a touchdown. However, there was one quarterback sack. The two interceptions were on the quarterbacks, and not because they were pressured.

DeVan knows improvement from his group allows it to happen for the rest of the offense.

“Yve rushed for 165 yards, but still, we left a lot of yards out there with a lot of zone blocks,” DeVan said. “We gave up one sack, and that’s one sack too many. So we can improve week to week.”