Washington @ OSU

It is amazing to me how far south things have to slide before local media or anyone else quits giving Riley and Co. a free pass.   It seems like after every loss it is one day later and the apologists get right back on the “few coaches could do better in Corvallis” train.   It barely seems to matter how many losses are strung together or that in our last 17 games Riley has a .176 winning percentage.

Get it through your heads people.  Riley is becoming increasingly outdated because he does not budge in his approach and even mediocre coaches are now licking their chops at facing a Riley led team.  This has more to do with how much fight and motivation Riley is putting into his players then it does talent level.  I have seen us capable of doing things this year.  What I have barely seen is determination to do them from start to finish and grind it out for 60 minutes knowing there are bound to be some things that don’t go our way.  Instead the team gets down 7 or sometimes even 3 points and almost instantly goes pass crazy like it is our only shot.  How many times do we have to play the same record before we try something different?  We know we lose if we give up on the run.  We haven’t proved yet that we lose if we don’t give up on the run.  So why not try it or incorporate the fly sweep more aggressively?

What I know we can’t do is continue to run play action if we only actually run the ball on 10% of our plays and it is 3rd and 12.  Seriously, the wasted 1/2 second or tad longer then makes it so Mannion has more pressure and noone even is considering it could possibly be anything other than a pass in that situation.  Even Buker today admitted that he doubts Riley will get rid of Langsdorf or Banker.  Every interview given shows no admittance by the coaches that anything they do has to change.  To them it is still all on the players.  Sure..that must be why Jim Harbaugh coached teams are so good.  The players figure it all out on their own.  No, it is because he DEMANDS excellence from his guys and they truly want to do their very best for him.   Riley and his staff just seem like stubborn dinosaurs for the most part.  Until they realize that the same old formula isn’t going to fool anyone I don’t see much progress being made.

I believe James Rodgers will get 5 or 6 catches and become the all time OSU leader in receptions.  But what I don’t believe is that OSU is going to play smart enough and with full on determination that no way in hell are they going to lose on Saturday.  Attitude in this game goes miles and we have taken on the passive gee-golly Riley mentality that has shown it will never go further than a Sun bowl in 11 years of his leadership.  Isn’t it funny that Riley’s worst recruiting and why we are soft now was after our two best years?   He thought he got kinda close but recruits were showing him that winners put the proof in the pudding.  Riley just isn’t a winner.  His 14-34 NFL record more than illustrates that.  That averages to .291 by the way.  Sure seems “aw shucks” swell huh?  Not!

Polk is going to rush for 200 in this game and Washington will lead most the way.  We will stick around for awhile but Mannion probably has two more interceptions in this game.  I say we are down 17-7 at halftime and lose 27-17.   If PSU’s Burton was our coach for the game we would win.  This proves my point that plenty of other coaches could do at least as well as Riley in Corvallis.  After a decade Riley has took the momentum he did have and brought a couple of his worst seasons.  That is not the tell tale signs of a good coach who knows how to build a long time winner.  That is the sign of a guy who did well for a few years while the conference was down and is now leveling out to his natural slightly worse than mediocre usual self.

With UW and Cal getting fancy new stadium upgrades expect OSU to be in the bottom half of the Pac-12 North for as long as we keep Riley and his buddy coordinators.   While we have the talent to win I don’t believe Riley has the team playing with any sense of real purpose.  I expect a disorganized effort with too many loose ends and for OSU to come out of it with a 2-9 record.  After this weekend since Riley is 100% guaranteed to never beat Chip Kelly we all know 2-10 comes next.  If BDC doesn’t tell Riley to make coordinator changes after that or Riley won’t then it is time to show him the door and tell him to not let it hit him on the way out.

Oregon State with Pac-12 money and exposure can do far better and get someone who will play physical and inspire his guys to bring their best effort every week.  Riley is just chewing gum on the sideline and saying the exact same things every week.  He appears to have no answers.  Buker’s article today mentioned that OSU’s loss to Sac St caused them to question everything.  If they are questioning everything it doesn’t look like it and they sure aren’t implementing hardly any changes in 9 games since then that have produced anything.  So even if that is true all Riley and Co. have shown is regression and not being able to adjust, scheme or properly motivate their team.  Riley is CEO and he sure has not shown that he can inspire confidence in his team or fanbase.  Never do you listen to the guy and say I feel great that we will dominate a game.   We couldn’t even say it against Sac St because Riley was too busy with his panties in a bunch.

Washington 27,  OSU 17