Oregon State Beavers (1-0) vs. UNLV Rebels (1-0)
Saturday, September 12, 8:00 PM PST
Las Vegas Favorite: Oregon State -7.0

Sam’s Take (8 – 1):

Slow starts have plagued Oregon State over the last few years and a road win in Las Vegas would go a long way in helping to reverse that trend. I don’t expect the east coast media to give OSU a ton of love even if they win big, but make no mistake about it, beating UNLV on the road is important for a Beaver team that is 1-8 in its last nine road non-conference games.

With a potential Top-25 non-conference showdown against Cincinnati on the horizon, it will be critical that the Beavers don’t overlook this game. I believe in coach Mike Riley way too much to think that OSU will be looking ahead, especially given what UNLV did to another Pac-10 team last year (remember, ASU was #15 at the time and anticipating the Georgia game the next week).

The Rodgers brothers should continue to set the tone, but QB Sean Canfield will be the key. Canfield must make good decisions and not try to force anything (something that still concerns some Beaver fans). He looked sharp in the opener, but this is a considerable step up in competition.

UNLV is no joke on offense, especially when passing. The powerful one-two punch of QB Omar Clayton and WR Ryan Wolfe concerns me considering the OSU secondary is still a bit of an unknown.

I see the two offenses dictating the pace and it wouldn’t shock me if this game came down to a few plays in the 4th quarter.

Ultimately, I believe the Beavers will make those plays.

Prediction: Oregon State 37 – UNLV 28

Oregon State Player to Keep an Eye On: CB Tim Clark - He will likely match up against Ryan Wolfe, making this one of the key battles to watch for on Saturday.

UNLV Player to Keep an Eye On: LB Jason Beauchamp – He is the anchor of the Rebels D, and a true force at the second level. Beauchamp will be a key for stopping the run this week.

Dave’s Take (8 – 1):

Facing a less than stellar defensive line, ‘Quizz Rodgers should have a field day in Las Vegas and rack up a ton of yards en route to an Oregon State win.

That’s what should happen, anyway. But something tells me it won’t. It’s always hard to explain when you’ve just “got a feeling”.

Maybe it’s the slow starts over the past three years. I know I’ve mentioned this a million times, but there’s no way it isn’t in the heads of the upperclassmen on the team, buried somewhere in their thoughts, too. The first five games of the season have all resulted in 2-3 records for the Beavers over the last three years.

Maybe it’s the shockingly bad road record in September. When was the last time the Beavers won a road game in September? September 5th, 2002 over the Temple Owls.  They’ve lost nine straight road games in September since, and throw in an August loss to Stanford last year to make it 10 straight.

Maybe it’s the fact that there are still lots of question marks on this defense, and while most of them will be sorted out by season’s end, we didn’t learn much about them last week, and they might struggle Saturday against a much tougher opponent.

I’d love to see the Beavers shake some of these trends, but until they exorcise these early season demons, I have to pick against them.

Prediction: UNLV 31 – Oregon State 21