College Football Handicapping: Oregon States defense is a total mess

The main storyline for this game is, can the Beavers stop the Cougars Luke Falk and his passing game which ranks as #7 in the nation and the Cougars overall rank #8 for passing.

“I think they’re playing with effort, but they don’t as a whole group completely understand the responsibility factor of playing big-time college football on the defensive side of the ball”, Andersen told the Corvallis Gazette-Times. “But I’d like to change that because we do play at home sometimes”.

Washington State linebacker Peyton Pelluer noted the Cougars this season seem to be playing at the level of their opponent, which killed them in the loss to Portland State. “That’s obviously part of the recipe we’re going to have to have to have success”. And Sitake, who literally had to scream commands from the sideline against the Wildcats, is going to face an offense that leads the league in passing yardage, racking up 396.4 yards per game.

The Washington State Cougars (3-2) are set to take on the Oregon State Beavers (2-3) Saturday afternoon at home in Pullman following the teams thrilling 45-38 road win in Eugene against the Ducks last weekend.

Where Andersen’s influence has shown up in the OSU defense is on third downs, where the Beavers are the best in the conference, allowing a conversion on just 34.3 percent of their opponents’ third-down attempts. Jeremiah Allison is Wazzu’s leading tackler (45) and has also tallied four tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, one interception, one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry. Oregon State will have its opportunities to move the ball, and offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin vows he will go with a run-first philosophy, leaving the load to a veteran O-line and running backs Storm Barrs-Woods and Ryan Nall.

Points per game for OSU, last in the Pac-12.

Did you know: Falk played football with Andersen’s twin sons, Chasen and Hagen, at Logan High School while Andersen was the coach at Utah State.

“Our ability to give teams a couple layups a game in big plays on the defense is a huge problem right now”, Andersen said. “I’m proud of that young man and what he’s done”.

The Beavers need to execute better, especially on fundamentals, Andersen said.

“We want to be a spread offense that can run the ball effectively”, Andersen said. I (do). I’m gonna throw those haymakers and (have) seven more weeks of throwing them, and I hope we can find it will be eight more weeks.

The Beavers don’t figure to be overwhelmed by WSU’s pass attack.

The Beavers and Cougars are both allowing more than 200 yards per game on the ground. But he doesn’t feel that way about Falk, who he said was physical and liked to “get dirty”. “Coach (Mike) Leach gave him an opportunity, and, boy, has he made the most of it”. The Cougars can’t let those Beavers ghosts cost them a conference win today or OSU will send another promising season off track.

THE SERIES: This is the 100th game in the series, which Washington State leads 49-47-3.

Along with just two interceptions in those five games and has an average passer rating of 147.8. Meanwhile, quarterback Falk has been added to the Manning Award Watch List, given to the top quarterback in the country.