Big payday about the only positive for the Beavers

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - It was a big payday and an opportunity to experience big-time college football.

That’s the best way to describe what happened to the Oregon State football team Saturday afternoon at Penn State.

The Beavers were overwhelmed on the way to a 45-14 nonconference defeat before a crowd of 108,159 in Beaver Stadium.

What the players can take from Saturday’s loss when looking at the video is an opportunity to study a team that is playing well in all areas. The No. 19-ranked Nittany Lions (2-0) were too athletic and performed well together.

“It was a hard loss,” running back Jacquizz Rodgers said. “We got embarrassed really. We have to build off of it, and get better in the future.”

In the past, these kind of games were called body bag games, meaning the lesser team was physically mauled and piled up the injuries. But at least they were paid a hefty sum.

The Beavers (0-2) are above that level now and competed on each play to the end. They just couldn’t keep it close.

“You have to give them due credit,” coach Mike Riley said. “They really played very efficient football. It was very physical. I was mostly disappointed in some missed plays, and some missed tackle opportunities.”

The Beavers endured this beating on national television for the money, plain and simple. They were given approximately $1.1 million for the game.

Penn State paid $800,000 for the sold out home game and ABC chipped in for the rest.

The network wanted ratings with two teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences, but that only lasted the first quarter before the channel flipping began.

ABC even changed the West Coast feed to another game in the fourth quarter to salvage the viewership.

The payout will help fund the athletic department’s budget, and help pay off the contract of the former basketball coach. When the game was announced in December, it unofficially became the Jay John Bowl.

“What I regret is we didn’t give them a better game,” Riley said when asked about the schedule. “When we do this again, we’ll learn from it. I think the season plays out according to the improvement of the team. Win or lose, we have to get better. And we obviously have a lot to get better at.”

As for the experience, it’s one they would love to forget, but will talk about throughout their lives.

Embarrassing losses such as these have been used as motivation to get better fast in the past. Players and coaches don’t know why that is, but it takes something like this for a better tomorrow.

“Hopefully, we’ll have that same formula,” cornerback Brandon Hughes said. “We’ll rally around each other and shore up the things we need to shore up. It’s good some of the guys from the LSU year (2004), the Boise State years (2004, 2006) and last year are back. Right now we need leadership. It’s going to start from the top, like myself and the other veterans who have been in this situation before.”

With the preface that the Nittany Lions are just better, the defense is the greatest concern. Penn State didn’t do anything fancy, but forced open holes, broke tackles and out-ran tacklers.

OSU’s secondary covered Penn State receivers well at times. Beyond that, the Beavers were pushed around.

“At this point we are concerned as a defense,” Hughes said. “There are some guys we need to pick up. There’s a legitimate concern because we haven’t stopped the run lately, and didn’t defend the pass when it counted today.”

The pass rush was limited, so quarterback Daryll Clark completed 14 of 23 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

Penn State’s running game gained 238 yards and scored four touchdowns, led by Evan Royster with 17 carries, 141 yards and three TDs.

“It’s really where we go from here,” Riley said. “It’s obvious we are not going undefeated this year. And we’ve been in this boat before. So really, the tale will be told at the end. We have a ton of football left. I’m encouraged with some of the things we saw today. I believe we’ll improve on things, like tackling. I can’t believe we’ll tackle that bad forever. I think we are better than that.”

The Beavers fell behind early so the plan of running the ball on a regular basis was thrown out. Quarterback Lyle Moevao completed 25 of 41 passes for 250 yards and two interceptions.

The Beavers had two long drives for scores when the running game was the focus, but the passing game was controlled by the Penn State defense. OSU couldn’t come up with big plays to get back in the game, with the longest being a 22-yard pass to tight end John Reese.

“It was a tough game, but when we are on offense we have to score, no matter how the defense is playing, the way they did today or if they are not giving up any yards,” Moevao said. “We have to do our job, and not worry about the defense. We have to keep putting up points and we didn’t do that.”

Cliff Kirkpatrick covers the Oregon State football team for the Corvallis Gazette-Times. He can be reached at cliff.kirkpatrick@lee.net.