The Barometer Online

Issue date: 11/10/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Burton The offensive line has come up huge for OSU this year, helping the Beavers get four conference wins in the last four weeks.

Oregon State football had an up-and-down opening to this season. After five games, the team was 2-3 and the outlook appeared bleak.

Attitudes in Corvallis turned hostile: People called for Mike Riley's job. Matt Moore received less-than-flattering nicknames. Tension was palpable.

Now, OSU is on a four-game winning streak that includes a win over previously undefeated USC.

People are currently hailing Riley as an offensive genius. Moore has heard the once hateful student section chanting "We want Moore!"

The big names get all the blame when things go poorly and all the credit when they're going well.

That's okay for the big names, but what about the big players?

There's been one group of players that has been dominant in the wins, and struggled in the losses. Now that they're playing well, OSU seems unbeatable.

The offensive line's success has mirrored that of the team. When the line plays well, the Beavers win.

"If they don't play well, the offense is going to stumble," Moore said of his protectors.

The numbers back up Moore's statement.

In OSU's six wins, the Beavers have had four games in which they didn't give up a sack.

Idaho sent blitzes on nearly every play, and was only able to pull Moore down once. USC got six sacks to go along with their loss, but according to Moore most of those were the his fault.

OSU lost to Boise State, California and Washington State while giving up six, four and six sacks respectively.

The obvious time to say the line turned things around was at the start of the current winning streak, but was that really when things began to click?

"I'd say it's that Washington State game when we were so close to making big plays and so close to picking up those blitzes," OSU center Kyle DeVan said.

"A lot of defenses will put in new blitzes that we haven't seen before, and now we're getting in the middle of the season and no defense is throwing anything at us that we haven't seen."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools