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Oregon State Beavers vs. Stanford Cardinal Week 6 Preview

The Oregon State Beavers did figure to play a team with an unblemished Pac-10 record in the month of October. It's just not the squad Mike Riley's young men expected when they kicked off the 2009 season.

Before Labor Day weekend and the start of a new football odyssey, most Pac-10 pigskin pundits expected USC to carry an unbeaten league record into the Oct. 24 encounter with Oregon State. Yet, as Oct. 10 arrives, it's Stanford--owner of a 3-0 mark--that sits atop the conference heading into this weekend's duel at Reser Stadium. When coach Jim Harbaugh brings the Cardinal into Corvallis, the home folks will have a shot to propel themselves back into the thick of the conference race.

The key to this very important game won't be terribly complicated: It's all about balance for both teams, not just one of the dogs in this football fistfight.

First, let's start with OSU's offense. The Beavers will still send Sean Canfield into the gridiron, with Lyle Moevao continuing a drawn-out rehabilitation process. Canfield doesn't have quite the gun Moevao possesses; when OSU dissected Arizona State's secondary on Oct. 3, Canfield found receivers breaking wide open because of the threat posed by tailback Jacquizz Rodgers on the ground. Balance enabled Riley to keep the Sun Devils off balance, and with a relatively weak-armed quarterback, that's how Stanford's defense must be approached as well.

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On defense, the dynamics of this duel are strikingly similar for Oregon State. Stanford butters its bread with the running of super specimen Toby Gerhart, a hard-charging, bull-rushing, Larry Csonka-style stud with enough of a burst to get into the open field after shedding initial tackles near the first point of contact. Stanford will try to establish Gerhart so that redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Luck--a terrific talent who has thrown only two interceptions this season--will feel comfortable in Corvallis and find open receivers on plays when OSU loads the tackle box to take away Gerhart.

Some teams (think of Cincinnati, an earlier opponent for Oregon State this season) look to establish the pass in order to set up the run, but the Beavers and the Cardinal both like to do the opposite: Oregon State and Stanford both try to pound the rock in order to pass the ball with greater effectiveness as the game unfolds. Whoever can run the ball better is likely to find more big-play passes in this pivotal Pac-10 passion play. The team that ultimately finds a better brand of balance will enhance its status in the conference, and give itself a better shot at gridiron glory when playing USC later in the season.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer