Did We Just See a Ghost??

What a win for the Beaver Believers. But watching that true frosh running back last night, Jacquizz Rodgers, run around USC’s defense last night? Looking at this:

Sure reminded me of this:

Same build, same great feet, same great vision, same great cutback ability, same style of always moving forward. Even the same jersey number. SPOOKY.

The most impressive/surprising thing to me wasn’t that Rodgers has the speed or the moves. But he simply wasn’t afraid to take the ball between the tackles, and looked a lot more physical than I think I expected. Not only great feet and speed, but a pretty tough kid as well.

Lucky for Oregon State, the Rodgers kid is just a true FROSH. We only saw Jerome Harrison for two very special years, including the 1900 rushing yards his senior year, leading to All-American status. So get used to that name, because you are going to hear it a LOT the next few years.

But once again, Mike Riley and the Beavers have circled the wagons after another miserable start (losses to Stanford and Penn State) and have come all the way back to 2-2 after stomping the yard with Hawaii and then last night’s shocker. Amazing. I heard from Brinkhater last night, and his point was great for Oregon State and all that, and they do look like they have put themselves together and ready for a decent run in the conference. But maybe the real question is why the heck to do they keep getting off to lousy starts, only to magically right the ship??

As far as last night’s game, I think two big reasons Oregon State won – PENALTIES AND TURNOVERS! Sound familiar? When the Beavers have struggled over the years, it’s almost always when they lose the turnover battle. Even the opening loss to Stanford, they had nearly 500 yards of offense compared to only around 300 for Stanford, but they were minus-3 in the turnover battle. Last night? Zero turnovers, and two big ones from USC. Both USC turnovers were converted to points on the board for the Beavers. And USC was flagged seven times for 84 yards of penalties, while the Beavs? Five penalties, but just 27 yards. That can make a huge difference in a tight game, and sure enough, Oregon State is the one still celebrating right now.

So here’s a question for everyone – does this loss HELP the Pac-10? Or does it hurt? Obviously on the national stage, this kills. USC was the top-ranked team going into last night’s game from the WAC-10, and only Oregon was ranked in the coaches poll. But even if SC wins the rest of their games, the BCS title game seems like a real longshot. But what about the rest of us? Does this loss fill you with hope? That nothing is impossible, even after our own rough start? You better believe Oregon, Cal, ASU, Oregon State, heck, even Arizona suddenly all believe they have a legit shot at smelling Roses. Does this loss signal the beginning of one of the most wild conference seasons we’ve ever seen?

All I know is I can’t wait to see how things play out! For once again, last night, we are reminded that there is never, ever such a thing as a lead pipe guarantee. For we were reminded, yet again, that is WHY THEY PLAY THESE GAMES! You just never know. And that is why we love it.

Happy Friday, and GO COUGS!