Very much enjoyed watching that game last night. Loved to see them score 41 too. Offense and Emmit Carpenter looked very good. Offense controlled the ball, Capenter went 2 for 2 including a 48 yarder.
What was the same in both the Gopher games. Defense.
Portland newspaper recognized that too.
9:45 p.m., Loge Level, Reser Stadium
Ryan Nall’s fumble with 9:52 left in the third quarter Saturday left Rich Hein shaking his head.
“They’re doing things that show they don’t have much football knowledge,” Hein said in his seat at Reser Stadium’s loge level. “You’d think they would be farther along.”
Sixty-seven seconds later, Minnesota took advantage of a short field and scored to take a 27-14 lead. It scored on its next three drives, too, and easily routed Oregon State, 48-14, in front of a stadium that, at the end, was perhaps a quarter-full. After the game, Minnesota coach PJ Fleck practically floated across the field toward the Oregon State sideline, while Gary Andersen trudged.
"It's not on those kids," Andersen said. "I'm the one that hired the coaches, so it's all on me."
Oregon State finishes its nonconference schedule 1-2 after narrowly avoiding a loss last week to FCS Portland State. Up next: Washington State, Washington, USC, Colorado, Stanford.
At his expense, Hein joked that he knows what bad football looks like. He was a TCU safety during a forgettable period in Horned Frogs history. TCU was 0-11 during his senior year, in 1976.
He’s been coming to Oregon State games for 17 years, and in Andersen’s third season, he said he felt fans expected the Beavers to build off last season’s Civil War victory.
Randy Rasmussen | The Oregonian/OregonLive
But Saturday left more fans than Hein shaking their heads. Several said they expected a slow rebuild in a strong division like the Pac-12 North, but want more evidence of progress by this point.
On the concourse on the stadium’s west side, a Beaver fan approached two state troopers and said,
“I’m sorry you have to watch this.” With that, he walked out of the stadium.
In the parking lot, hope remained.
Asheesh Stairs sat under an Oregon State blanket in the back of a white pickup, protected by the rain by the bed’s canopy. She played Candy Crush on one tablet, and kept an eye on the score on her phone.
At halftime, she said, the parking lot behind the stadium's older half was filled with dancing fans. But in the the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the joy had drained out of the place...
9:05 p.m. Loge Level of Reser Stadium, Corvallis
Want a sign of how quickly Minnesota fans have taken to new coach PJ Fleck?
When Golden Gophers fan David Krutsch’s wife went into an interview for a teaching job this summer, she peppered her interview with Fleck’s motivational sayings.
And the Fleck effect isn’t limited to the office. With his “Row the Boat” catchphrase, which he popularized at Western Michigan, paired with Minnesota’s already established “Ski-U-Mah” chant, Fleck has created loads of goodwill in the Twin Cities -- a pro-team market -- that has extended into new family traditions.
“Anytime something bad happens, my wife will say ‘Row the Boat!’ and the kids will say ‘Ski-U-Mah!’” Krutsch said, smiling on the loge level of Reser Stadium. “It’s just a little family chat we say back and forth now. We all know what it means. OK, fix it. Fix your attitude.”
Fleck's own attitude appears perpetually never in need of fixing.
He sprints up the sidelines between quarters, and his team follows. He dips into a squat on each snap, as if he’s wearing a helmet, not a headset.
“He’s elite,” said Jon Jacobs, another Minnesota fan. “Guy is the most wound up dude I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and we’re glad we got him.”
So are the Krutsches. Last week, when Krutsch, his wife and their two young sons attended Minnesota’s home game, Fleck stopped to say hello beforehand.
“He gave my son a hug and grabbed his cheek and said thanks for coming buddy and rubbed his head,” Krutsch said. “My 9-year-old will remember that forever.”
And it sounds as though their family will be Fleck fans for a long time, too.
That teaching interview in which Krutsch's wife dropped Fleck one-liners? Yeah, she got the job.
Oregon State gained 35 yards in the second half.
Initially, the plan for the day was to tailgate in the same spot they’ve used for a decade under a heated tent. But then it broke. Then it rained. She sat under the canopy and made the most of it. So, yeah, she understands unforeseen obstacles.
“I’ve heard some mumbles and grumbles” during Oregon State’s 1-2 start, she said, “but some of them say, this is still a young team.
“Everybody is just rooting for them. No matter how bad they do, they just keep rooting.”
***
What was the same in both the Gopher games. Defense.
Portland newspaper recognized that too.
9:45 p.m., Loge Level, Reser Stadium
Ryan Nall’s fumble with 9:52 left in the third quarter Saturday left Rich Hein shaking his head.
“They’re doing things that show they don’t have much football knowledge,” Hein said in his seat at Reser Stadium’s loge level. “You’d think they would be farther along.”
Sixty-seven seconds later, Minnesota took advantage of a short field and scored to take a 27-14 lead. It scored on its next three drives, too, and easily routed Oregon State, 48-14, in front of a stadium that, at the end, was perhaps a quarter-full. After the game, Minnesota coach PJ Fleck practically floated across the field toward the Oregon State sideline, while Gary Andersen trudged.
"It's not on those kids," Andersen said. "I'm the one that hired the coaches, so it's all on me."
Oregon State finishes its nonconference schedule 1-2 after narrowly avoiding a loss last week to FCS Portland State. Up next: Washington State, Washington, USC, Colorado, Stanford.
At his expense, Hein joked that he knows what bad football looks like. He was a TCU safety during a forgettable period in Horned Frogs history. TCU was 0-11 during his senior year, in 1976.
He’s been coming to Oregon State games for 17 years, and in Andersen’s third season, he said he felt fans expected the Beavers to build off last season’s Civil War victory.
Randy Rasmussen | The Oregonian/OregonLive
But Saturday left more fans than Hein shaking their heads. Several said they expected a slow rebuild in a strong division like the Pac-12 North, but want more evidence of progress by this point.
On the concourse on the stadium’s west side, a Beaver fan approached two state troopers and said,
“I’m sorry you have to watch this.” With that, he walked out of the stadium.
In the parking lot, hope remained.
Asheesh Stairs sat under an Oregon State blanket in the back of a white pickup, protected by the rain by the bed’s canopy. She played Candy Crush on one tablet, and kept an eye on the score on her phone.
At halftime, she said, the parking lot behind the stadium's older half was filled with dancing fans. But in the the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the joy had drained out of the place...
9:05 p.m. Loge Level of Reser Stadium, Corvallis
Want a sign of how quickly Minnesota fans have taken to new coach PJ Fleck?
When Golden Gophers fan David Krutsch’s wife went into an interview for a teaching job this summer, she peppered her interview with Fleck’s motivational sayings.
And the Fleck effect isn’t limited to the office. With his “Row the Boat” catchphrase, which he popularized at Western Michigan, paired with Minnesota’s already established “Ski-U-Mah” chant, Fleck has created loads of goodwill in the Twin Cities -- a pro-team market -- that has extended into new family traditions.
“Anytime something bad happens, my wife will say ‘Row the Boat!’ and the kids will say ‘Ski-U-Mah!’” Krutsch said, smiling on the loge level of Reser Stadium. “It’s just a little family chat we say back and forth now. We all know what it means. OK, fix it. Fix your attitude.”
Fleck's own attitude appears perpetually never in need of fixing.
He sprints up the sidelines between quarters, and his team follows. He dips into a squat on each snap, as if he’s wearing a helmet, not a headset.
“He’s elite,” said Jon Jacobs, another Minnesota fan. “Guy is the most wound up dude I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and we’re glad we got him.”
So are the Krutsches. Last week, when Krutsch, his wife and their two young sons attended Minnesota’s home game, Fleck stopped to say hello beforehand.
“He gave my son a hug and grabbed his cheek and said thanks for coming buddy and rubbed his head,” Krutsch said. “My 9-year-old will remember that forever.”
And it sounds as though their family will be Fleck fans for a long time, too.
That teaching interview in which Krutsch's wife dropped Fleck one-liners? Yeah, she got the job.
Oregon State gained 35 yards in the second half.
Initially, the plan for the day was to tailgate in the same spot they’ve used for a decade under a heated tent. But then it broke. Then it rained. She sat under the canopy and made the most of it. So, yeah, she understands unforeseen obstacles.
“I’ve heard some mumbles and grumbles” during Oregon State’s 1-2 start, she said, “but some of them say, this is still a young team.
“Everybody is just rooting for them. No matter how bad they do, they just keep rooting.”
***
