Opponent Watch: 3 Things To Watch For From Oregon State
This is Oregon State’s first time playing Ohio State since 1984. Their last game played in 2017 was a 69-10 loss at Oregon, to conclude the season at 1-11.
Head coach Jonathan Smith is in his first game at the helm for the Beavers and is trying to bring the program back to the glory years of the late 1990s when there was some wide receiver named Chad Johnson on the roster. Oregon State has not had a winning season since 2013.
Kickoff is at 12pm EST, but you are a West Coast team, so it could be feeling like it is 9 am with your internal body clock.
For a player on Oregon State, these are a few painful realities as the Beavers prepare to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first game for both teams this year.
With all of these things in mind, what are some of the things that the Beavers may do against the Buckeyes in their quest for success?
Look For Oregon State To Get The Ball Out Of Jake Luton’s Hands Quickly
Earlier this week, Oregon State announced that Jake Luton would be starting at quarterback. Listed at 6’7″, 234 lbs., Luton suffered a thoracic spine injury last year against Washington State on this play,
and missed the remaining eight games of the 2017 season.
With Ohio State’s deep and talented defensive line, Oregon State may try to get the ball out of Luton’s hands quickly on passing downs. The leading receiver for Oregon State in 2017 was tight end Noah Togiai, who had 34 receptions for 461 yards and 2 touchdowns, averaging 13.6 yards per reception.
Togiai suffered an injury in a recent scrimmage, and was not listed on the recent two-deep roster for Oregon State.
Will Oregon State Sell Out Against The Run Versus Ohio State?
As Michael Citro and I discussed on the latest episode of The Silver Bullets Podcast, Oregon State plays a 3-4 defensive front, with a couple of nose tackles who are both over 320 pounds (Kalani Vakameilalo, Elu Aydon).
As a matter of fact, Aydon is listed up above at 378 lbs., but here is the main point – with such massive interior defensive linemen, will the Oregon State strategy be to force Ohio State to the air, hoping that the Beaver secondary can slow down what should be a talented arsenal of Buckeye receivers?
Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2018/08/opponent-watch-oregon-state/