Oregon State started their '08 season with a conference opener. The Beavers traveled to Stanford to take on a much improved Cardinal team, but in the end the Beavers had too many play makers on both sides of the ball. Earning OSU's first win of the season, in a downpour 23-7.
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| The Beavers were glad to see Stroughter back after missing much of the 07 season. Stroughter had two TD's for OSU. |
There are many questions for the Beavers coming into this season and none more important than their running backs and if they could come close to the production they have had over the last several seasons. It was a back by committee approach the Beavers used for this game and Junior running back Jeremy Francis was impressive in his first game for the Beavers, nearly rushing for 100 yards. Redshirt Freshman Ryan McCants had some nice carries for the ball club as well in those short yardage situations. With such a high potent passing game the Beavers will continue to need production from their backs to make defenses have to play them honest.
Defensively Oregon State's secondary is clearly the strength of the defense and Thursday night was a clear indication of that, the Beavers were able to get constant pressure on Stanford's Tavita Pritchard (QB). The secondary also picked off two errant Pritchard throws while under pressure.
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| Victor Butler recorded two sacks for the blitz happy Beavers who like to apply a lot of pressure. |
Pritchard was sacked twice by Victor Butler and was not able to get in a comfortable rhythm all night. A last second attempt of trickery on Stanford's side with a screen pass with under a minute to play netted Stanford's biggest play of the game.
Oregon State will now travel to Beaver Stadium to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions for the first ever match-up between PSU and Oregon State.
