Opponent View/Scouting Oregon State

Purdue is headed West to Oregon State for a return trip of a home-and-home scheduling agreement. It will be just the third meeting between the Boilermakers and Beavers.

Les Gehrett of the Corvallis Gazette-Times breaks down Oregon State (2-1) in advance of Purdue’s trip West this weekend. Kickoff is 8:30 ET on Saturday on The CW.

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Oregon State offense?

Gehrett: Oregon State’s looking to run the ball. There’s no real surprise in that. If you look at any of the tape from the first two games, the Idaho State game and the San Diego State game, they ran the ball effectively. And they had large stretches of the game where they didn’t even throw the ball at all, 10-plus play drives without a single pass. If they’re able to get started running on Saturday, they’re not afraid to just keep doing that. Style points don’t really matter.

They need to get back on the winning way after kind of getting rolled a little bit last Saturday (49-14 loss at home to Oregon). So, I think they’re going to do what they feel comfortable with, and that’s run the ball.

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Beaver defense?

Gehrett: I wish I knew. That’s a really good question. I had this game circled on my calendar early in the summer because I felt like this was the first game where we were going to get an honest look at what this Oregon State team is.

They were playing two teams in their first two games that they had a significant talent advantage on. I don’t know how much you learn in games like that, playing Idaho State and a San Diego State team that’s not the team they’ve been in the past. They’re down.

And I don’t know what you learn when you go up against a team as talented as Oregon. That was not a competitive football game in the second half on Saturday. So, to a certain extent, we don’t really know what this Oregon State defense is yet. They haven’t really picked on somebody their own size yet.

And I know that this is not a great Purdue team, but it’s a Big Ten club with Big Ten talent. And I think this is going to be a fair fight, and I think there’s an opportunity to see what Oregon State’s defense is actually made of. Right now, we don’t know.

San Diego State came out with a freshman quarterback and could do nothing two weeks ago, and then on Saturday, (Oregon QB) Dillon Gabriel came out and did absolutely everything he wanted. Whatever you want, you can have it. So, this coming game, maybe we’ll learn a little bit about what this Oregon State defense is made of.

One thing I do know for sure, the coaches are not happy with the space they’ve been giving in the secondary. Too much respect to the wide receivers. Receivers on Saturday just ran wild, and they’re looking to tighten that up on Saturday. Maybe that opens up an opportunity. I don’t know if Purdue’s got the ability to do it or not. But with this super tight coverage, there might be an opportunity to break one. I don’t know. You don’t want to give up a big play, but they’d rather that than be as soft as they’ve been in these early games.

GoldandBlack.com: How do you see this game unfolding?

Gehrett: Not to be a homer, I think this is a game Oregon State should win. Purdue seems to be in a rebuilding mode. Hard to tell what you guys are made out of right now. You’ve had two games that are a lot like ours, non-competitive, one in each direction. So, you haven’t been in a real dog fight yet this year. So, a lot to learn about them.

I think this Oregon State team can run the ball. They’ve got a big, tough experienced offensive line. Joshua Gray is a very good guard. He has been a tackle for them. He moved inside strictly because in the NFL, he’s going to be an interior lineman. He’s a load. And they like to just run behind him. I think they’re going to have some success doing that.

They want to (get) that Oregon taste out of their mouth, and they want to come out and compete. I think this is a game Oregon State should win. I think for them to reach the goals they’ve got this season, eight, nine–on the outside chance–a 10-win season is in play, this is a game they’ve got to have.

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