Riley’s time is running out

After an inexcusable loss and waiting until the very end of the third quarter for Oregon State to show any life it is now more clear to me than ever that the problem is coaching. The “aw, shucks” mantra has proven itself a loser. We saw cornerbacks taught by Banker to assume that every 35 yard pass must be deadly accurate and they therefore should faceguard and commit pass intereference rather than taking a look towards the direction the pass was coming from. These balls were not thrown that well and 75-80% of them were fairly easy pickoffs if the players had any real technique itstead of the shabby defeatist technique they are being taught. Our defense has not been very good for over a few years now.

Pulling Katz was the right move and more than that he should not start another game this year unless Mannion really struggles. The redshirt freshman Mannion proved he has far more composure. If your upperclassmen like Katz can’t find the confidence after years practicing the system they just aren’t made of the right stuff. And unfortunately Katz is too nervous out there and for no good reason. This was Sacramento St. You don’t have to do a baby slide out there when you are Katz and could run for more yards. Remember that play last year where Andrew Luck bowled the defender over? Night and day. Worse was Katz doing three dump passes in a row at the very end of the first half. We needed to throw intermediate or deep routes and Katz was throwing 1 yard dinkers. Seriously, a couple of them were not even thrown 2 yards forward.

Malcom Agnew looked good and yes there would be a different feeling had the chip shot field goal at the end been good. But it wasn’t and Riley has to take this on his shoulders and it should be a loss that leaves his certainty as head of the program after this year at much less than 50% in my opinion. Yes we are recruiting better from what we can tell for 2012 but another more talented coach can make use of those guys instead of having these coaches waste them.  The missed field goal problems began when Riley called timeout with 4 seconds left instead of 2. I watched the game with my father and he asked me in the moment if we should start leaving assuming we could make the easy chip shot. Had there been 3 seconds left I would have said yes. But there was a strong chance 1 second could now be left and we would have to go through the whole charade of a pointless and needlessly worrisome kickoff after the field goal.

Riley’s character of cowardice revealed itself by not being able to have the ref at his side and call the timeout at 2 seconds. That mistake was followed by the nervousness of Mike Remmers who comitted a false start. Being backed up 5 yards should have not made a difference as it was still a short distance but amzingly it was just enough difference as the kick was pushed and bounced off the right upright. The ball bouncing back toward the Beavers apparaently was enough to take up all 4 seconds.

Then we went to OT and Agnew got his nice touchdown run, but as soon as Sacramento St. made their first first down I told myself they look like they are going to score and will go for 2. They got the TD and then lined up for a fake extra point. I was there watching the dynamic and it looked more frantic on Sacramento St’s part then Oregon St’s in this moment. I was looking at the matchups and this looked like it was as good in favor of going the Beavers way as you could hope. Then right before they snapped the ball Riley inexplicably called a timeout revealing his cowardice yet again. All it did was give the Hornets time to put in a much better play and bring in their best athletes. The play before was less of the best as it was meant to look like an extra point. At that point Riley had just risen our chances to lose by atleast 5 times and probably more. SERIOUSLY. NO JOKE. The quarterback calmly threw it out to the right flat of the endzone and our DB couldn’t even stay on his feet. The player caught it and touched with his feet before falling back on his butt on the side of the endzone. Game over. Beavers lose.

This was coaching that has to take the brunt. Riley has continued to show he can’t get his teams playing football until atleast the third week. I know of noone else who starts so slow year in and year out and dooms us to play catchup the rest of the year. This myth that the guy can coach is just that. A bold move needed to be made after last year. Either Banker or Langsdorf realistically should not be here. Now it is Riley who needs to go since he is stuck in his ways and expects us to deal with it or call it good enough. I don’t care if his dad was an assistant coach. There are many Beaver alumni and we don’t get lifetime contracts because we sold popcorn one basketball season or in the case of Riley used to paint Reser guardrails with a fresh paint one summer. Whoopty doo Beaver Nation!

If we want to win we need to be very proactive and act boldly and with purpose to move forward and not endlessly stagnate like we will under Riley. If I was the AD I would fire Mike Riley right now and hire Mike Leach. I wouldn’t even wait til the end of the season. The problem with the Beavers is they think you can just do these big moves at some time that is most convenient for the coach and when we finally are so sick of it we can’t take it any more. But it is much more important to act for a real good coach that is only available for so long. Leach is available right now and he would be the right guy to wake up this sleepy Mayberry nightmare Riley has us in. He may not be availabe at the end of the year and if he was we would then have to compete to get him.  The year after that may have less choices.  That is why bold action is needed when an attractive target is out there. When we got Erickson it was the only time I have see the AD act boldly and it was a great move that ushered in the best Oregon State season in many decades. A similar swift and bold move that can set us on a new course is needed. We will keep recruiting decently because we are in a premier conference. We just need premier coaching and don’t need to buy the Mayberry sham that losses to Sacramento St. are part of the learning curve. This was an embarassment and Riley needs to take a hit because of it. When we don’t make a bowl this year, Riley and his coordinators all need to go.  Chris Petersen of Boise St. would also be an excellent hire.  Throw some of our Pac-12, soon maybe Pac-16 money at him and let’s move up!