USC versus Notre Dame isn’t the only game with a Pac-12 team this week in which a bad defense is facing a bad offense. The Oregon State-UCLA game in Corvallis could be framed in similar terms.
Oregon State has allowed 38 points or more to Washington State and California. That’s a shockingly bad display for the Beavers, who memorably held Caleb Williams and USC to just 17 points one year ago.
Oregon State’s struggling defense faces a UCLA offense which has been stuck and stymied in the first half of the season.
Before the OSU-UCLA game this Saturday in Week 7, we asked this question to our Pac-12 football panel:
Oregon State has been shredded on defense away from Corvallis. Aberration or indicator?
Our Pac-12 panel responded:
Matt Wadleigh: It’s an indicator for me, but the way the Beavers’ offense is playing, I wouldn’t worry very much yet.
Matt Zemek: I don’t understand Oregon State at all. How can this defense be so good and then suddenly collapse against Cam Ward? How can this defense give up 40 to Cal’s backup quarterback? What happened? Cam Ward is good, but UCLA just smothered him this past weekend. If UCLA could bottle him up, why couldn’t Oregon State at least slow him down? OSU is playing inconsistent football. The Beavers need to prove they can be more consistent as the season moves along.
Zachary Neel: It’s not nothing, for sure. I think that Oregon State is about as good as we expected them to be this year, but they remain inconsistent. The defense definitely has some improvements to make if they want to slow down the likes of Oregon and Washington, but they can handle themselves against the rest of the conference.
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