Oregon State Beavers Football in Deep Trouble, Stanford Surprisingly Good

There are several ways to lose a football game.

Turnovers are a killer. Injuries to key players or where depth is thin can be a game-changer. Mismatches are a big reason, too (great passing offense vs. weak secondary, for instance); while they can sometimes be neutralized, there are usually enough big plays generated from the mismatches to dictate the game's end result.

But Oregon State's 36-28 loss to Stanford Thursday (while partially attributable to turnovers) really seemed more about the lack of being able to find poise and make adjustments when things were falling apart.

On consecutive possessions, the Beavers gave up a safety, an interception return for a TD, and then a turnover on downs due to a 4th-and-20 after a recovered fumble for lost yardage. There was no answer each time things went sour, but there was plenty of panic.

Stanford, on the other hand, seemed like a confident team that was not playing its first game. Jim Harbaugh has really improved the team. The Cardinal's defense stymied Oregon State throughout. In the later stages, they just seemed to tighten the screws.

I would predict that Stanford will win at least one game it isn't supposed to this year, but that just happened. I will predict that it will win more games it isn't supposed to...that is, unless it continues to perform in such a way to become the favorite rather than the underdog.

Back to Oregon State, this does not look like the year that the Beavers make noise for the conference crown. They are already 0-1 in conference play and the team I saw tonight will probably go 6-6 overall. Penn State will probably take them next week (in Happy Valley), leaving them a shattered 1-2 when they limp into the USC game.

That would make three losses with Utah, Arizona State, and Oregon still remaining on the slate: an Arizona team with a coach fighting for his job, a UCLA team that could surprise, and a Washington team that will be looking for any win it can get against one of the nation's toughest schedules.

I'm not piling on here. I really don't follow Oregon State in a positive or negative way. In fact, the only reason I watched one of their games is because I'm so happy college football is finally starting that I'm watching nearly everything televised. So I don't have a dog in the fight.

I'm only saying that if Oregon State were "my team," I would have been severely depressed after watching this particular game Thursday night.