Pucker Pucker Pucker…

It is horrifying; the most difficult task in all of sports. One miscue, a half second, a blink of an eye from perfection can spell immediate disaster. It measures the level of a person’s mental capacity. Some coaches have the ability while others can’t even touch it with a ten foot pole. Some never even get the chance to try. Sorry Jerry Pettibone.

It is the most convoluted, grueling, complex, and down right frustrating chore put on the shoulders of one person during the course of a game. It’s the rubix cube on a football field. It’s coaching the Oregon State Beavers football team with a lead.

That looks hard.

Not quite sure why, but the Beavers don’t like to lead. They’re against it like a chair to a doorknob. They hate it. Like a nice three-button coat at the Salvation Army, they give it to someone who really wants it. Needs it. Desires it. At least that’s the vibe I get from this coaching staff.

Two games in a row Oregon State Coach Mike Riley has enjoyed an early lead and momentum. Two games in a row he has had the chance to ride his running back and lean on his defense to bring him a victory. Unfortunately, two games in a row neither Riley nor his coaching staff had made adjustments at halftime to allow any of that to happen. They have allowed teams to walk onto the field in the second half, grab the momentum and take the lead.

Winning 19-0 at Arizona State two weeks ago, in the words of Mike Valenti, “Pucker, pucker, pucker.” Up 14-0 at the end of one quarter against UCLA, at home this last weekend, “Pucker, pucker, pucker.”

This last weekend especially. The Beavers puckered up and allowed UCLA to score forty unanswered points. Forty! That’s the definition of a coach not recognizing the situation, not making adjustments and failing to execute properly. Forty?

What did the Oregon State coaching staff see at halftime? Sean Canfield was completing passes but very few were more than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, he didn’t have any sort of downfield attack. Yvenson Bernard was running well but UCLA was stacking the line of scrimmage because there was no downfield attack. Bernard was fighting for every inch.

So what’s the cure for this situation? After halftime the Beavers came out throwing. But not downfield, not more than 11 yards downfield. So much for stretching a defense. With a seven point lead, the team took the first two possessions and shot themselves in the foot. Five of the first six plays were passes and only took a total of 1:54 off the clock.

Sadly, they should have thrown away the part of the playbook with the passing plays or at least instructed Canfield to look further than five yards down the field. Aside from a few bright spots, the passing game was dreadful. After halftime UCLA was playing the run and passing the ball five yards down the field isn’t going to stretch a team back out. With eight players in the box it’s surprising Bernard gained any yards in the second half.

The following two possessions in the third quarter totaled 3:57 with only three passes of 11 total plays, but it was too late. UCLA had already started to steal the momentum from Oregon State. All they were looking for was a big play or a timely penalty to steal it from under the Beavers feet and flip them upside down faster than Mandi Rodriguez on the vault.

They got their chance. On a freak play, Gerrard Lawson made an uncharacteristic mistake nailing a Bruin player out of bounds. The Bruins swooped in. This was their chance; they were going to make the best of it. The Bruins were going to score on that drive. There wasn’t a question. It could be seen in the way Ben Olson walked onto the field.

The defense isn’t to blame, either. They had been on the field for an eternity in the third quarter because the offense couldn’t control the ball for more than four plays at a time. Then they return to the field a must defend a hyped up, determined UCLA offense. Yeah right.

Asking linebackers to play in coverage in the fourth quarter after spending most of the third quarter taking it on the chin is never a good recipe for success. Insert Brand Breazell and a short screen and the rest is history. Follow that with a fumbled kickoff and the defense now defending a short field, no way. The Beaver defense is good, but no defense is that good.

The problem has been and will continue to be the coaching decisions of this Oregon State team. Much like last year, this team needs to stretch the field and get more aggressive with the passing game. Allow Canfield to lob a deep pass on third and long.

If it’s intercepted at least the opposition knows the offense isn’t afraid to go vertical. It will force them to respect the deep ball. Maybe pull a linebacker off the line or replace him with a corner or safety on third down. Then, set up in a three-wide and run the draw play that fans see 10 times a game. That will allow Bernard to get another inch or two of space up front. Knowing his running style, that is all he needs to turn two yards into twenty.