Beavers to Battle Utes Thursday Night at Reser

IT’S ON US: Oregon State University in conjunction with the Pac-12 Conference is proud to be a part of the national “It’s On Us” campaign to create awareness of sexual violence. For more information go to itsonus.org or oregonstate.edu.

TELEVISION
•  Due to the MLB playoffs, Game 5 of the St. Louis vs. San Francisco series will not air on FOX Sports 1 where the OSU vs. Utah game was originally scheduled.
•  Instead, OSU vs. Utah will be broadcast on FOX Sports 2 as well as on Pac-12 National, Pac-12 Oregon, Pac-12 Mountain and Pac-12 Arizona.
•  In addition, the game will be carried on local affiliates in Portland (KPDX), Eugene (KEVU), Medford (KEBI), Bend (KUBN) and Salt Lake City (KMYU).
•  In addition, the OSU-Utah game will stream on FOX Sports Go (digital application) with a FOX Sports 1 authentication.

THE SERIES
•  Thursday marks the 19th game in the series that dates back to 1931.
•  OSU owns 11-6-1 advantage with a two-game win streak.
•  Beavers are 5-1-1 in Corvallis vs. the Utes.
•  The teams continue the series next year on Halloween in Salt Lake City.
•  OSU won 51-48 in overtime last year (Sept. 14) for its first victory in SLC since 1968.
•  Last year’s overtime win was OSU’s first ever against any team other than Oregon – Beavs are now 3-5 in OT games.
•  First time OSU has played Utah when the Utes are ranked in the top 25.
•  Current Beaver WR Richard Mullaney’s career best yards of 142 set against Utah last season on 7 receptions.
•  Skycam pass interference … almost … on a critical 4th down play in the 4th quarter. Sean Mannionpitched to Terron Ward (RB), which led to a Ward pass back to Mannion that almost hit the Skycam before Mannion tossed a 48-yard strike to WR Brandin Cooks.
•  Cooks caught 9 passes for 210 yards and 3 TDs (career-high) last year, including the game-winner of 6 yards in overtime that was first tipped by a Utah defensive back.
•  Mannion had 5 TDs (tied school record/broke it with 6 vs. Colorado 2 weeks later). His 443 yards were also a school record (broke that nearly a month later vs. WSU with 493).
•  Mannion earned Pac-12 Off. Player of the Week the following Monday as did PK Trevor Romaine as the league’s Special Teams Player of the Week after booting a then career-long field goal of 49 yards (he was 3-for-3 for the game).
•  Beaver cornerback Steven Nelson had two interceptions in last year’s game.
•  Notable current records by Beavers against Utah: most rushing yards (Bill Enyart, 299/ 1968); Most total yards (703/1951); Fewest passing yards (0/1968 – 5 times in OSU history).

FAMILIAR FACE: Former Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson (1999-2002) is in his second year on the Utah coaching staff and serves as its running backs coach. Erickson led the Beavers to three bowl  games in his four years at the helm, including the 2000 Fiesta Bowl winning team that went 11-1 overall and finished the year No. 4 in the final Associated Press Poll and No. 6 in the BCS standings.  This will be the sixth time Erickson has been on the opposing sideline in Corvallis – 2008 & ’10 with Arizona State; 1985 and 2006 with Idaho; 1979 with San Jose State (asst. coach.)

RETURN TO RESER: OSU is the only team in the Pac-12 that plays just two more games away (Stanford & Washington) from its home field of Reser Stadium.

5-1 WOULD BE GOOD: The Beavers will move to 5-1 with a win over Utah. As it stands now over the last three seasons (current included) OSU is 15-2 during the first half of the years combined.

588: The number of yards quarterback Sean Mannion needs to break the Pac-12 record for career passing yards. Mannion currently has 11,740 and is chasing the all-time record of 12,327 yards by former USC standout Matt Barkley (2009-12). He is third overall in Pac-12 history, needing 79 yards to move into second passing former Trojan Carson Palmer (1998-2002).

MANNION’S CLIFFSNOTES: The following is a quick summary of quarterback Sean Mannion’s accomplishments to date (a more detailed biography is also available in these game facts):
•   First three-year team captain in school history.
•   2014 Manning Passing Academy Air-It-Out Challenge winner.
•   2014 Elite 11 QB Camp Challenge winner.
•   Maxwell Award Watch List for the nation’s top player.
•   Davey O’Brien Award Watch List for top QB.
•   Manning Award Watch List for top QB.
•   Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award candidate.
•   Walter Camp Award Watch List (All-America teams).
•   Senior CLASS Award finalist (character, community service, academics, athletics).
•   Currently ranks third for Pac-12 career passing with 11,740 yards (see chart), needing only 658 to pass former USC Trojan Matt Barkley as the all-time leader.
•  The second active QB (Taylor Heinicke, ODU) at the FBS level to reach 1,000 (see chart) completions. He also is the 24th quarterback to do so.
•  His 11,740 yards is third among active Division I quarterbacks. (Taylor Heinicke, Old Dominion, 13,298; Rakeem Cato, Marshall, 11,874).
•  His .652 career completion percentage is on OSU record pace and currently ranks first among active Power 5 conference quarterbacks with at least 1,000 attempts.
•   Broke the Pac-12 record for single season passing yards last season with 4,662.
•   He can join former Oregon standout Bill Musgrave as the only quarterbacks in league history to earn Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week accolades in four different seasons.
•   Set a then-Pac-12 record last season for back-to-back games passing with 974 yards combined against California and Washington State.
•   Has graduated with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and is working on a Master’s in interdisciplinary studies.
•   “You’re a freakin’ Albatross Sean Mannion … use your reach.” Offensive Coordinator John Garrettin an August practice.
•   Check out Sean Mannion’s website at http://seanmanniontheqb.com/

40,003: The number of yards Oregon State quarterbacks have thrown for since Beaver head coachMike Riley returned to the sideline for his second tenure at the start of the 2003 season. That equates to 22.7 miles, the most in the league during the timeframe.

SCHOOL RECORD COACH: Mike Riley continues to build on his school record for victories, now with 92. He has 57 league wins, which is 11th in Pac-12 history. Riley’s overall league record is 57-57 (14 of those losses in his first era of 1997-98) – his second tenure (2003-present) league mark is 55-43. Riley is the longest tenured coach in the Pac-12 in his 14th year at OSU; the rest of the league entering the ‘14 season includes Kyle Whittingham, Utah (10 yrs), Steve Sarkisian, UW/USC (6), David Shaw, Stanford (4), Todd Graham, ASU (3), Mike Leach, WSU (3), Rich Rodriguez, Arizona (3), Sonny Dykes, Cal (2), Mark Helfrich, Oregon (2), Mike MacIntyre, Colorado (2) and Chris Peterson, UW (1). Riley finished second in an ESPN poll of FBS coaches the week of Sept. 15 2014 for being the most underrated coach (Rice’s David Bailiff was first).

THE NEW COORDINATOR: For the first time since the 2005 season, OSU has a new coordinator in the coaching staff. Longtime offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf (2005-13) left the program in January to return to the NFL with the New York Giants as quarterbacks coach. Langsdorf replacement is John Garrett, who has had a lengthy NFL coaching career with the Cowboys (his brother Jason is the head coach), Bengals, Cardinals and Buccaneers, as well as in college at Virginia. Garrett also coaches the quarterbacks and tight ends with the contributions of graduate assistant coach Tavita Thompson.

60 YEARS: No other team in the Pac-12 can boast as much NFL coaching experience as the Beavers. OSU’s full-time coaches have 60 years of NFL experience, including Mike Riley as the head coach of the San Diego Chargers.  Here is a closer look – Mike Riley (4 years), Mark Banker (3), Bruce Read (7),Mike Cavanaugh (2), John Garrett (19), Rod Perry (23) and Chris Brasfield (2).

BEAVS AT 108: USC owns the most victories in the Pac-12 Conference this century with 138 (114 with vacated wins), followed by Oregon (139), OSU (108), Arizona State (98), UCLA (97), Stanford (97), Cal (91), Washington (84), Arizona (81), WSU (74).  Non-traditional Pac-12 teams Utah has 119 victories this century and Colorado has 73. The Beavers hit the 100-win plateau this century in the Sept, 21, 2013 win at San Diego State. The previous 100-win stretch started during the 1966 season, ending with 1999 – nearly 34 seasons (365 games). This century’s 100 victories were achieved in just over 13 seasons (168 games).

EARLY DEPARTURES: Juniors Brandin Cooks and Scott Crichton elected to forgo their senior seasons and enter the NFL Draft, becoming the fourth and fifth Beavers to do so joining StevenJackson, Brandon Browner and Jacquizz Rodgers. Cooks, a consensus All-American and Biletnikoff Award winner, set new Pac-12 single season marks for receptions with 128 and yards with 1,730 (NCAA leader in 2013). He accounted for 226 receptions for 3,272 yards and 26 total touchdowns (24 rec, 2 rush) during his illustrious career. Overall, he compiled 3,863 all-purpose yards. Crichton made 165 career tackles for the Beavers, including 51 tackles-for-loss and 22.5 quarterback sacks. He ranks third all-time at OSU for tackles-for-loss and fourth for quarterback sacks.

CONSENSUS ALL-AMERICANS: Oregon State has never had a consensus All-American in three consecutive seasons; that opportunity presents itself in 2014. Cornerback Jordan Poyer earned the acclaim in 2012 and receiver Brandin Cooks in 2013. The most likely candidate for 2014 is quarterback Sean Mannion, who is on the verge of smashing the Pac-12 record for career passing yards.

ROSE BOWL REUNION: The 2014 season marks 50 years since the Beavers’ last trip to the Rose Bowl. The ’64 team (’65 Rose Bowl) lost to Michigan 34-7 in that Rose Bowl. That team will be honored during the weekend of the Nov. 1 home game vs. California.

COULD HAVE; ELECTED AGAINST: The Beavers could have played 13 regular season games as allowed by the NCAA when a team travels to Honolulu to play Hawai’i. Head coach Mike Riley elected to have a second bye for the season.

OTHER SCHEDULE NOTES: There are several oddities to this year’s schedule for the Beavers. Here is a closer look:
•  OSU and Cal are the only teams to have a streak of three consecutive home league games.
•  The Beavers, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Washington are the only teams to play on the last six dates of the season.
•  Oregon State is the only “Power 5 Conference” team that ends the season with four home games in the last five dates.
•  Oregon State is the only team that begins the Pac-12 portion of the season with two road games and is the only team to play three of its first four league games away.
•  Oregon State is one of four Power 5 teams that only plays three home games in the first full eight weeks of the season.

RESER RECORD: Oregon State’s home record of 63-25 this century at Reser Stadium is third best in the Pac-12 Conference, trailing the home records of only Oregon (75-13) and USC (68-15).

TEAM CAPTAINS: Quarterback Sean Mannion is serving as a co-team captain for the third consecutive year – no Beaver prior has ever been a captain for three seasons. Linebacker Michael Doctor is in the co-captain role for the second straight year. Safety Ryan Murphy and center Isaac Seumalo are in their first years with the leadership honor.

ONE-TWO PUNCH: Beaver running backs Terron Ward and Storm Woods each have 100-yard plus rushing games this season – Arizona is the only other team in the Pac-12 with two different 100-yard rushers and Stanford, and Washington State have yet to have one in any single game.

662: Oregon State has rushed for a net 662 yards in its five games this season. Last year the Beavers didn’t get to 662 net rushing yards until the fourth quarter of game 11.

RUNNING BACK U: Oregon State is the only program in the Pac-12 Conference with three running backs that rank in the top 10 for career rushing in the league; 3. Ken Simonton (1998-2001), 5,044 yards; 8. Jacquizz Rodgers (2008-10), 3,877; 9. Yvenson Bernard (2004-07), 3,862. Steven Jackson (2001-03) ranks 14th with 3,625 yards. Rodgers and Jackson both left OSU after three seasons to enter the NFL.

100-PLUS USUALLY A W: When a Beaver rushes for 100-plus yards it usually equals a victory.  OSU has won 29 of its last 35 games (83%) when a rusher gains 100 – the only six losses in that period — Oct. 2, 2008 at Utah (Jacquizz Rodgers 101 yds), Oct. 24, 2009 at USC (Jacquizz 113), Oct. 16, 2010 at Washington (Jacquizz 140), Sept. 3, 2011 vs. Sacramento State (Malcolm Agnew 223), Dec. 29, 2012 vs. Texas (Storm Woods 118) and Nov. 29 vs. Oregon (Terron Ward 145).

50/50 IS THE GOAL: Head coach Mike Riley often mentions to the media that his goal is to be balanced between the run and pass. Currently, the Beavers are as close to being that than in most recent years with 148 pass attempts and 130 rushes. Here is a closer look at what OSU has done for the season overall compared to last year:
Year    Pass Pct.    Rush Pct.
2014    53%    47%
2013    64%    36%

BALANCE IS ONE THING; THIS IS ALMOST RIDICULOUS…: The Beavers entered the season with two running backs capable of being starters, per head coach Mike Riley. I guess so, both Terron Ward andStorm Woods have exactly 59 attempts for nearly identical net yards – Ward 343 and Woods 342. No other team in the Pac-12 has two backs with as many yards individually.

LONG FIELD; NO PROBLEM: Oregon State has started drives inside its 20-yard line 15 times this season and scored on nine of those. The Beavers have six touchdowns and three field goals.

SHAKY START – PERFECT SINCE: OSU scored points on just six of nine red zone opportunities in the first game of the season vs. Portland State, but since has been perfect (15-for-15) – see more on page 19.

508: That’s the number of combined tackles for the Beavers’ three starting linebackers – Michael Doctor (214), D.J. Alexander (166) and Jabral Johnson (128). OSU’s senior trio is one of the most experienced, if not the most experienced, linebacker corps in the Pac-12. For the first time since 2007 the Beavers started three senior linebackers in the season opener.

TURNOVERS: Over the last four seasons (43 games) OSU has forced 93 turnovers, fourth-most in the conference and tied for 13th in the nation. Here is a closer look courtesy of ESPN: Oregon (109), Arizona State (101), Washington (94), Oregon State (93), UCLA (86), USC (81), Utah (79), Stanford (76), Arizona (73), Washington State (73), California (66), Colorado (57).

WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE, WIN THE GAME: Over the last 130 games, Oregon State is 51-10 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 11-35 when committing more and 13-10 when even.

80-9: That’s the record of Oregon State when it leads after three quarters with Mike Riley as head coach.  Since the start of the 2004 season it is 60-5.

BOWL HISTORY: Starting with the 1999 season thru 2013, Oregon State has appeared in 11 bowl games – tied for the second-most in the league. Oregon has 14 appearances, followed by OSU (11), Utah (11), USC (11), UCLA (11), Arizona State (10), Cal (8), Washington (8), Stanford (7), Colorado (6), Arizona (5) and Washington State (4).

STINGY DEFENSE: Oregon State’s experienced defense has posted 12 quarters of allowing 100 yards or less this season. The Beavers rank second in the Pac-12 for total defense allowing an average of 331.4 (10 years ago that average would have been 9th in the Pac-12 after 5 games) yards per game. Here is a closer look.
9 yds – Portland State (3rd qtr)
13 yds – San Diego State (4th qtr)
31 yds – Portland State 4th qtr)
32 yds – Hawai’i (1st qtr)
39 yds – Colorado (3rd qtr)
50 yds – USC (1st qtr)
56 yds – San Diego State (3rd qtr)
61 yds – Portland State (1st qtr)
71 yds – San Diego State (1st qtr)
75 yds – San Diego State (2nd qtr)
79 yds – Hawai’i (2nd qtr)
87 yds – Hawai’i (3rd qtr)
Last year through five games OSU was 68th in the country/9th in the Pac-12 (E. Wash, Hawai’i, Utah, SDSU, Colo) allowing 405.6 yards per game.

PARTICULARLY TOUGH IN FIRST QUARTER: OSU’s defense is allowing an average of 69.6 yards per game in the first quarter where it has a 51-21 advantage in scoring – 7 points allowed by the offense on an interception.

THE LAST ZERO IN THE LEAGUE: Zero as in the number of points the Beavers have allowed in the third quarter this season. No other team in the Pac-12 has pitched a shutout in any one quarter this season.  OSU has a 37-0 advantage in the third quarter, but is on the bad side of a 47-16 margin in the fourth quarter. In the odd quarters the Beavers have outscored their opponents 88-21; in even the quarters they have been outscored 96-53.

LUCKY 9: OSU started nine seniors on defense in the season opener; the most since modern day tracking/records for starters began in 1976.

SCHOLAR ATHLETES: Oregon State’s seniors are all on track to graduate this academic year. Quarterback Sean Mannion possesses his bachelor’s in liberal studies and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. The following student-athletes will graduate in December; D.J. Alexander (human development/family studies), Tyler Anderson (new media), Bud Delva (communication), Michael Doctor (human development/family studies), Obum Gwacham(marketing), Connor Hamlett (management), Malcolm Marable (new media), Michael Morovick(management), Ryan Murphy (human development/family studies), Trevor Romaine (human development/family studies), Roman Sapolu (public health), Terron Ward (new media) and Dylan Wynn (human development/family studies). Steven Nelson (sociology) will graduate in March andKeith Kostol (electrical & computer engineering), Devon Filipe (exercise and sport science) andTyrequek Zimmerman (human development/family studies) and Siale Hautau (Spanish) will graduate in June.

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Courtesy: Athletic Communications 
Release: 10/13/2014
Image © Courtesy: Karl Maasdam/Oregon State Athletics 

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of HomeBleachers or its staff.

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