Oregon State vs Colorado Football Pre-Game Notes
Oregon State QB Sean Mannion passed for an OSU record six touchdowns in last season’s 44-17 win in Corvallis.
(CORVALLIS, Ore. ) — The Oregon State Beavers resume Pac-12 action at 1:00 p.m. Saturday at Colorado.
The game will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
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.
THE SERIES:
• OSU leads overall 4-2 in a series that dates back to 1931.
• OSU is 1-2 in games in Boulder – W 14-7 (1964), L 38-14 (1983), Loss 28-21 (1988).
• QB Sean Mannion passed for an OSU record six touchdowns in last season’s 44-17 win in Corvallis (Sept. 28). Brandin Cooks (2014 NFL 1st RD pick of the Saints) had 168 yards receiving and 2 TDs. RB Terron Ward had 103 yards receiving. Mannion had 414 yards passing overall.
• Colorado’s athletic center is named after former standout Colorado football head coach Dal Ward. Ward played football at Oregon State (lettered 1924-26) and baseball (1925, 27). He was twice named to the All-Coast football team and was inducted into the OSU Sports Hall of Fame (1 of 3 two-sport athletes) in 1997 and is also in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
• The two schools play in football next season in Corvallis, Oct. 24, 2015.
• OSU is the only team in the Pac-12 to play its first two conference games on the road.
PERRY’S BUFF CAREER:
Beaver secondary coach Rod Perry returns to where he played major college football Saturday. Perry earned All-Big Eight Conference and All-America Honorable Mention in 1974 – his senior year for the Buffaloes. In 1974, Perry intercepted three passes (scored 1 TD), had 31 tackles and returned 15 punts. He also lettered in 1973 after transferring to CU from Fresno City College. Perry is a native of Fresno and ultimately graduated from FSU in 1983 after a lengthy and successful NFL career with the Rams and Browns.
DEL RIO RETURNS TO COLORADO:
Beaver backup quarterback Luke Del Rio returns to Colorado, where he was a standout for one season at Valor Christian in Highland Ranch (transferred from Episcopal (FL) HS after his junior year). Del Rio, the son of Denver Bronco defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, led Valor Christian to the Colorado 5A state title as a senior in 2012 passing for 2,275 yards and 28 touchdowns.
BACK TO BACK ROADIES:
Oregon State has not lost back-to-back Pac-12 games on the road since the end of 2003 (USC & UO). The nine occurrences since, which includes a 2011 game vs. WSU in Seattle (WSU considered it a home game) the Beavers are an overall 13-5.
BACK AT HOME:
Following Saturday’s game at Colorado, OSU is the only team in the Pac-12 that plays just two more games away (Stanford and Washington) from its home field of Reser Stadium.
866:
The number of yards quarterback Sean Mannion needs to break the Pac-12 record for career passing yards. Mannion currently has 11,462 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 356 yards to move into second passing former Trojan Carson Palmer (1998-2002).
MANNION’S CLIFFSNOTES:
• 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 11,462 yards (see chart), needing only 866 to pass former USC Trojan Matt Barkley as the all-time leader.
• Needs 4 completions to be the second active QB (Taylor Heinicke, ODU) at the FBS level to reach 1,000 (see chart on page 7).
• His 11,462 yards is second among active Division I quarterbacks. (Taylor Heinicke, Old Dominion, 13,017).
• Fifth in the nation for career touchdown passes with 72.
• His .651 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 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 Garrett in an August practice.
• Check out Sean Mannion’s website at http://seanmanniontheqb.com/
1000 COMPLETIONS:
Sean Mannion needs four completions to reach 1,000 for his career. He will be the 24th player in NCAA history to reach the milestone. For the entire list of players to reach the milestone please see the chart on page 7 of these game notes.
RECEIVER DEPTH ISSUES:
The Beavers enter Saturday with its top deep threat receiver sophomore Victor Bolden listed as doubtful (as of early week). Junior Richard Mullaney is the most veteran receiver of the team, but playing out of position at flanker. Mullaney has 81 catches for his career; the rest of the current wide receiver corps have a combined 14 career catches (if Bolden does not play).
SCHOOL RECORD COACH:
Mike Riley continues to build on his school record for victories, now with 91. He has 56 league wins, which is tied for 11th with Rich Brooks (Oregon/1977-94). Riley’s overall league record is 56-56 (14 of those losses in his first era of 1997-98) – his second tenure (2003-present) league mark is 54-42. 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).
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 107:
USC owns the most victories in the Pac-12 Conference this century with 140 (116 with vacated wins), followed by Oregon (137), OSU (107), Arizona State (98), UCLA (98), Stanford (95), Cal (89), Washington (84), Arizona (81), WSU (73). Non-traditional Pac-12 teams Utah has 118 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).
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.
OTHER SCHEDULE NOTES
• 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.
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 Oregon, Stanford, Utah, and Washington State have yet to have one in any single game.
495:
Oregon State has rushed for a net 495 yards in its four games this season. Last year the Beavers didn’t get to 495 net rushing yards until during the eighth game.
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 28 of its last 34 games (82%) 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).
487:
That’s the number of combined tackles for the Beavers’ three starting linebackers – Michael Doctor (210), D.J. Alexander (160) and Jabral Johnson (117). 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.
WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE, WIN THE GAME:
Over the last 129 games, Oregon State is 50-10 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent, 11-35 when committing more and 13-10 when even.
TURNOVERS:
Over the last four seasons (42 games) OSU has forced 92 turnovers, third most in the conference and tied for ninth in the nation. Here is a closer look courtesy of ESPN: Oregon (105), Arizona State (101), Oregon State (92), Washington (91), UCLA (86), USC (80), Utah (78), Stanford (73), Washington State (72), Arizona (69), California (66), Colorado (57).
79-9:
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 59-5.
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).
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.
STINGY DEFENSE:
Oregon State’s experienced defense has allowed just five quarters of 100-plus yards of total offense. The Beavers rank 16th in the nation and second in the Pac-12 for total defense allowing an average of 306.5 yards per game.
Last year through four games OSU was 92nd in the country/11th in the Pac-12 through four games (E. Wash, Hawai’i, Utah, SDSU) allowing 432.0 yards per game.
PARTICULARLY TOUGH IN FIRST QUARTER:
OSU’s defense is allowing an average of 53.5 yards per game in the first quarter where it has a 34-14 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. OSU has a 34-0 advantage in the third quarter this season, but is on the bad side of a 37-3 margin in the fourth quarter.
KICKOFF RETURN NO. 1 THANKS TO MURPH:
Beaver safety Ryan Murphy made his first official kickoff return one to remember as he eluded the USC special teams unit for a 97-yard return for a touchdown – the fifth-longest in Beaver history. Thanks to that return OSU is the national leader for return yards average at 32.5.
RARE BEAVER STAT:
Oregon State is currently last in the Pac-12 for scoring offense averaging 26.2 points per game. No Beaver team under Mike Riley in the second era has finished last in the league.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH:
Oregon State leads the Pac-12 for first downs accrued via penalty with 18. Colorado is second with 17. The Beavers earned seven first downs vs. USC via the yellow markers.
THERE’S ONLY 60 MINUTES:
One team Saturday is not going to reach their average time of possession – OSU is first in the Pac-12 at 33:57 while Colorado is second at 33.40. Interestingly enough, Colorado averages more offensive plays than any team in the league at 89 per game, OSU averages almost the fewest with 70 (Oregon - 69).
Source: Oregon State Athletics
