SEATTLE – Finding useful tape to scout the Oregon State offense has been a bit of a struggle for the Washington football team.
The film from last year’s game shows a Beaver offense unable to move the ball in a driving rain storm. This year, OSU has struggled against two very good teams (Boise State and California) and has blown out two very bad teams (Eastern Washington and Idaho). The only close game that the Beavers have had this season was last week’s 13-6 loss to Washington State.
Without a ton of really accurate information to go on, the Huskies (2-1 Pac-10, 4-2 overall), who host the Beavers (0-2, 2-3) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Husky Stadium, have had to rely on the constants that they know about. And the biggest constant for OSU has been kicker Alexis Serna.
“He’s the best kicker in the nation for a reason,” senior linebacker Scott White said.
Indeed, Serna is the reigning Lou Groza Award winner after making 23 of 28 field goals last season and is 45-for-56 in his career, including a 58-yarder against California this season. Serna, a former walk-on who was virtually unrecruited out of A.B. Miller High in Fontana, Calif., has absolutely owned Husky Stadium, which is not known to be an easy place to kick. In the past two years, Serna is 11-for-11 in Seattle, including scoring all 18 of his team’s points with six field goals in the rain storm last season. One of the field goals went for 46 yards, another was 41 yards.
Having a kicker like Serna helps make up for a lot of offensive difficulties, Washington defensive coordinator Kent Baer said.
“They didn’t do as much in terms of throwing the football as they’d like to have,” Baer said of last year’s game. “You don’t have to when you have a kicker that kicks six field goals. … They get on the 40-yard line, they’re kicking field goals. Not too many teams can do that.”
“He’s a tremendous kicker,” White said. “Anywhere inside the 40 he can put points on the board. We talked all week about the kicking game, special teams and how important this is going to be this week, setting up some good field position for us and making their offense drive the length of the field.”
That will bring up another matchup issue for the Huskies. While punter Sean Douglas has averaged nearly 47 yards a punt, there’s been some difficulty actually getting the kicks off, and Washington’s cover teams haven’t been particularly strong. One of Oregon State’s strengths has been its return game. Sammie Stroughter ranks second in the nation in punt returns with a 23.6 average and two touchdowns and Coye Francies averages 22.2 yards on kickoff returns. With a kicker like Serna, there’s only so far the Beavers have to go to get within scoring range.
“You’ve got to play good special teams, that’s critical, winning the field position battle,” White said. “Setting ourselves up so they have to go 80 (yards) instead of 50, where they can get into field goal range and put points up.”
Washington has been good at holding teams to field goals this season, allowing a conference-high 15 field goals (against 14 touchdowns). Much of that has to do with improved play on third downs and in the red zone. Last season, the Huskies allowed a 45 percent success rate on third downs, but this year that’s down to 31.8 percent. The Huskies have allowed teams to convert 21 of 23 red-zone chances, but only 11 have been touchdowns.
“It’s something we’ve emphasized,” Baer said. “I had a list of five or six things we needed to improve on and one was third-down conversions and one was red zones. … The more you emphasize something, you have a chance to get better at it.”
So how will Oregon State move into scoring range? The Beavers have only scored one touchdown in their past eight quarters as quarterback Matt Moore has struggled, averaging just 156.4 yards a game.
Without the now-graduated Mike Hass – last year’s Biletnikoff Award winner as the nation’s top receiver – Moore has had to find new targets. While Stroughter leads the team with 22 catches and a 15.0 average, the top target is 6-foot-7 senior tight end Joe Newton, who missed last season with a knee injury but has 18 catches and three touchdowns. The other threat is Anthony Wheat-Brown, who has a 15.5-yard catch average and two touchdowns.
Oregon State will also ride the running of Yvenson Bernard, who ranks second in the league in rushing (99 yards a game), has four touchdowns and also has 15 catches. The Beavers biggest issue isn’t so much a lack of talent on offense, it’s turnovers: 11 so far, including seven fumbles.
“They’re very similar to what they were a year ago,” Baer said. “Pretty much the same offensive line, the back is the second-leading rusher in the conference. Hass was a great receiver for them, but it looks like they’ve had some guys step in and take his spot. … It’s as good a one-back running team as we’ve seen.”
“They’ve got a good running back, a good quarterback,” White said. “I really like their tight end, he poses some threats, he’s one of the top tight ends in the country. They’ve got a really good offensive line. … For whatever reason, they’ve struggled with turning the ball over. That’s really hindered them from being the type of team they want to be this year.”
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