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Oregon State Week 8 Preview: USC

The Oregon State Beavers, it can truly be said, know how to beat the team that has ruled the roost in the Pac-10 over the past seven seasons. There's just one problem for Mike Riley's men as they travel to Los Angeles this weekend: They've never been able to beat the USC Trojans on the road since Pete Carroll's run of dominance began.

Yes, in 2002, 2006, and 2008, Oregon State conquered the Trojan Empire of College Football, knocking off USC on three separate occasions at Reser Stadium in Corvallis. No Pac-10 program has flummoxed and frustrated the colossus of West Coast football the way Oregon State has. It's quite possible to claim that without Oregon State's ornery opposition, Carroll and Co. might have reached another national title game, if not two, in the past decade. If there's any opponent USC should not underestimate--no matter what the oddsmakers or sports books might say--it's the bunch of bold and ballsy Beavers who have sidetracked the Men of Troy throughout the Carroll era.

Yet, with all this having been said, the fact also remains that Oregon State has not been able to work its magic against USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC might be weak-kneed in the Northwest (the Trojans lost earlier this season in Seattle, and must go to Eugene to play Oregon next week; USC lost in Autzen Stadium in 2007), but on home turf, the Cardinal and Gold don't lose high-stakes Pac-10 games. Cal, Oregon, OSU, Arizona State, and none of the other established programs in the conference have been able to solve the Coliseum. Only when no one was looking did a conference foe--lowly 41-point underdog Stanford--sneak into the stadium's backdoor entrance and mortally stab USC in the back, in a memorable 24-23 shocker from 2007. When the prime-time lights are turned on, and ESPN cameras train their sights on the gridiron, USC doesn't slip up.

How, then, will Oregon State try to start a new tradition of beating USC in the land of palm trees, and not pine trees? It has to start with defense.

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Oregon State 's secondary might not be the best in the land, but USC's pass offense hasn't lit up scoreboards or filled stat sheets this season. The injury-affected struggles of Trojan quarterback Matt Barkley have been well documented, particularly in the red zone. Unless USC can hit home-run pass plays, the Trojans will have to dink and dunk the ball down the field, and rely on their running game for much of their production. As long as OSU can avoid the big play and force SC to score on prolonged possessions, the Beavers can set up a game decided by red zone efficiency. If Riley's roster can produce red-zone stops on defense, and then find at least a few touchdowns in its sack of slingshots, one could envision the Beavers winning this game by a score of 14-12 or 17-13.

It's hard to imagine Beaver quarterback Sean Canfield--who, though quite smart, is not equipped with the biggest arm in college football--carving up the Trojans' secondary. This means that USC will load up the tackle box in an attempt to thwart Jacquizz Rodgers, the little man who destroyed Troy a year ago in Corvallis. OSU will likely experience very tough sledding on offense, so the defense has to hold down USC to a very small number, hopefully low enough that two touchdowns can carry the day at the Coliseum.

Oregon State has had USC's number in the Northwest. Now, we'll find out if the Beavers can engineer an even more massive revolt in the city they haven't been able to subdue.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer