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DUCIiS!
OSU can’t escape losing streak
Six coaches later, the
Oregon State Beavers
have not had a winning
season in 27years
By Rob Moseley
Sports Reporter
Since 1970, the Nebraska Corn
huskers have won three NCAA
Championships in football and
have never won less than nine
games in a season.
The Florida State Seminoles
have won one national champi
onship in that same time span,
along with 13 bowl games, and
have had just four losing seasons,
none since Bobby Bowden be
came head coach in 1979.
In that same span, the Oregon
State Beavers have had zero win
ning seasons and just one in
which they won as many as five
games, that coming in 1971.
Through five head coaches, six
U.S. presidents and the fall of
communism in the free world,
the Beavers have managed as
many as four wins just four
times. In eight different seasons
Oregon State has managed just a
single win, not including 1980's
glorious 0-11 finish under former
head coach-turned-Dallas Cow
boys' special teams guru Joe
Avezzano.
To be certain, rebuilding a
struggling program in the win
now game of college football is
not a task for the sleight of heart.
Today’s coaches are given a short
window of opportunity in which
to succeed. But when six men
have been given the opportunity
and five have failed, the question
of what to do next is unavoid
able.
The Boston University Terriers
recently made the decision to axe
their program. The school’s pres
ident used the justification that,
if schools like the University of
Paris or Oxford have thrived for
hundreds of years without a foot
ball team, so too can Boston.
No one is confusing Oregon
State with Oxford, or even
Boston for that matter, but when
is enough enough?
“We’ve had a couple of great
opportunities [this season] and
we just didn’t close it out against
Stanford and Arizona State,”
Oregon State head coach Mike
Riley said. "That’s disappointing,
but it’s not anything that will
frustrate us for long because we
can see real improvement and
great opportunity.”
When asked where that im
provement has come specifically,
Riley couldn’t say.
“Well, that’s a good question,"
Riley said. “I'm not sure that
we’ve steadily improved. I think
overall when you look at, umm,
probably just the ...,” he paused
for a few seconds and added,
“that’s a terrific question. I think
we’ve been pretty steady actual
ly. I'm not sure we’ve improved
where it’s noticeable.”
So it seems Riley has become
the sixth of six coaches since that
6-5 season in 1970 who has tried
and failed to bring success to
Corvallis. Granted, he is in his
first season and has implemented
a new offense for players he did
not recruit, but the inability for
even a team’s coach to see
marked improvement in the team
he is leading speaks volumes
about the program itself.
Beaver: QB admits career has been frustrating
m Continued from Page 36
By now, Alexander was to
have been in his senior season,
hardened by four seasons as the
Beavers’ main signal caller and
right in the middle of the
Beavers' resurgence. It was gener
ally figured that with Alexander
as the main man, Oregon State
would finally be a force to reckon
with in the Pacific-10 Confer
ence.
That is the way it was sup
posed to be for Alexander.
But it just hasn’t turned out
that way.
Instead, the Beavers have won
just 10 games, going 10-43 since
Alexander joined the team.
His career got off to an omi
nous start when a broken collar
bone put an end to his freshman
season in 1994, which became a
redshirt season for him. It could
n’t have come at a worse time for
Alexander, or the Beavers.
In the first extensive playing
time of his career, against South
ern California, Alexander rushed
for 117 yards in 17 carries and
had the Beavers in prime posi
tion to pull off the upset.
Until the injury, which oc
curred at the end of a 31-yard
Alexander run that got the
Beavers to the Trojans 14-yard
line with USC leading just 27-19.
“It was hard,’’ Alexander says.
“It was my first game and it was a
good experience. It felt good
playing against a good team, and
things were going good against
them.”
His fragile, 6-foot-l, 190-pound
frame has been hampered by nag
ging injuries throughout his ca
reer, causing him to miss seven
games the past two seasons.
The team was mired in turmoil
and had lost the faith of even the
most faithful Beavers fans as they
failed to live up to expectations
and went a combined 3-19 in
1995 and 1996.
Then came the coaching
change, which saw Pettibone and
his staff — with which Alexan
der was so enamored when he
signed with the Beavers — leave,
and Mike Riley come in follow
ing the 1996 season.
Alexander was forced to
change his style from that of an
option quarterback to more of a
passing style in order to run the
more conventional passing of
Alexander file
it WHO:
osu
quarter
back Tim
Alexander
X SIZE:
6-foot-1,
190 lbs.
B STATS:
Has passed for 1,530 yards in
1997, seventh all-time on OSU
single-season passing list...
3,656 yards of total offense for
his career ranks 3rd on the
OSU all-time list
fense Riley brought to Oregon
State.
The Beavers have struggled
during the transition, and so has
Alexander. He has passed for
1,530 yards, seventh on the Ore
gon State all-time single season
list, but he has thrown 13 inter
ceptions and only four touch
down passes.
“It’s been tough," he says. “I
think this is kind of a learning
year for me and the team. It’s
been tough adjusting to a whole
new system.”
The offense has especially
sputtered during the current five
game losing streak that has
dropped their overall record to 3
7.
As the leader of the offense,
Alexander accepts some respon
sibility for its struggles.
“As the quarterback, I think I
have to take the blame when the
offense struggles, or doesn’t per
form like it should,” he says. “I
don’t know if [the blame] is fair
or not, but it just comes with the
territory.”
Because of his mind-boggling
athleticism, Alexander remains a
threat to make a game-breaking
play every time he touches the
ball, a fact that has Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti concerned as
he prepares his team to face
Alexander and the Beavers in the
Civil War on Saturday.
“I think Tim Alexander is one
of the most dangerous quarter
backs in the conference,” Bellotti
says. “His development as a pass
er has been very, very impres
sive, and they’ve done a great job
with him in that regard.
“He’s always been a great run
ner. 1 think lie's probably more
dangerous now running from the
shotgun in pass formations
where they spread you out and
let him get more one-on-one
matchups."
Despite his occasional strug
gles, the Ducks need to be aware
of Alexander’s emergence as a
double threat.
“When people are dangerous
two ways, you’ve just really got to
stay assignment-oriented,” Ore
gon linebacker Peter Sirmon says.
“You do your own job, hope
everyone does the same and that’s
the only way we can beat someone
who’s two dimensional.”
The Beavers have put Alexan
der’s overall athleticism to good
use, using him at wide receiver
and slot back at various times
during the season. In fact, they
may consider moving Alexander
to another position next season,
which is something he says he
would do if it would help the
team win.
Alexander seems to take all the
adversity he has faced during his
career in stride and sort of chalks
it up to one big learning experi
ence. He doesn't dwell on the
past, but rather looks forward to
next season, which ironically
was made possible by the broken
collar bone in 1994 — kind of a
blessing in disguise, Alexander
says.
“It was good in that now I’m
older and more mature and hope
fully next year we’ll have a better
season than we’re having now.”
Alexander admits his career
overall has been frustrating, but
he does not second guess his de
cision to play for Oregon State
and stresses the fact that his ca
reer isn’t over yet, that there’s
still time for good things to come
to him and the Beavers.
“It’s been tough so far,” he
says. “Throughout my career
there’s been a lot of different
things going on, but I don’t have
any regrets. I think I’ve had a
good career here. I’ve got one
more year and I’m going to make
the most of it.”
There is a hint of frustration in
his voice, but also a sense of
hope.
It just hasn’t been quite what
he expected.