Gazette-Times Reporter

SAN FRANCISCO - It has been nearly a month of study and preparation for the Emerald Bowl.

All that work comes to a head at 5:30 p.m. today in AT&T Park when the Oregon State football team faces off with Maryland.

Two different style of teams are on display. Each will try to play to their strength, but countering the other forces adjustments.

The Beavers have an aggressive defense with speed and an offense that does a little bit of everything to move the ball just enough.

“We’re ready come game time,” OSU center Kyle DeVan said. “We’ve studied film and practiced against this defense long enough. I’m very excited to see what we can do.”

Maryland is concerned with the overall speed of the Beavers. Containing the outside run of the offense and the outside pass rush are the biggest problems.

OSU, however, looks at Maryland’s brute force as a challenge. The Terrapins pound the ball with two running backs.

Keon Lattimore and Lance Ball have combined for 1,655 yards. Lattimore has 13 touchdowns, while Ball has 12.

“The thing is a little bit of a mentality change for us,” OSU defensive coordinator Mark Banker said. “They are more of a run-oriented team with two good backs.

“When you look at the touchdowns, in the Pac-10 you don’t see 25 running touchdowns out of one or two backs.”

The Beavers possess the second-best rush defense in the country, but that’s because they are tied for third nationally in quarterback sacks. Yardage lost there goes against the run statistics.

Maryland will use three tight ends, a fullback and have large wide receivers to help run block.

The Beavers struggled against dynamic, powerful running teams such as UCLA and Oregon during the regular season.

“What they do fits well in what we do,” OSU middle linebacker Alan Darlin said. “We just have to stop the run, like it is every week. We stop the run, don’t give up the deep ball and get pressure on the quarterback.”

The Terrapins say they won’t pound their heads against a brick wall when it comes to facing the Beavers.

An improving quarterback in sophomore Chris Turner has been able to open up the passing game.

Maryland faced a similar style of defense in Boston College on Nov. 10, and upset the then-ranked No. 8 Eagles.

“We’ll have to throw the ball to run,” Turner said. “Against Boston College, we got that done.

“(The Beavers) are very good against the run, but don’t do anything complex. They are good at what they do.

“They play man coverage and that’s like Florida State. We’ll just have to throw the ball to beat their defense.”

As for OSU’s offense, it continues to grow with quarterback Lyle Moevao starting his fourth straight game. He’s 3-0 in the previous starts.

His success came as the offensive line learned how to work with what it has. Players are out of position, and fill in for standout guard Jeremy Perry when his injured leg doesn’t feel good enough for him to play.

Freshmen receivers Darrell Catchings and James Rodgers become more dependable by the week. Several running options are available with tailback Yvenson Bernard expected back from minor knee surgery that kept him out of the Dec. 1 Civil War.

“We’ve had a lot more time to prepare for this game than previous ones,” DeVan said. “I think all the guys have been focused over the last three weeks and we put in a lot of good, hard work.

“We’re ready.”