Sep 4, 2008

Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week not satisfied

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

Cardinal defensive back Wopamo Osaisai was named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week for making 11 tackles, nine of them solo, in the Cardinal's 36-28 win over the Beavers. Osaisai was also credited with two pass break-ups.

Osaisai, however, wasn't thrilled with the Cardinal secondary yielding 404 yards passing. OSU had late drives before the end of each half, producing a touchdown in the first half and nearly producing a potential game-tying TD (with two-point conversion) as the clock got within a minute left to play.

"We need to get better at everything," Osaisai said. "We're not satisfied. We should have stopped them."

The Cardinal secondary had some miscommunication at times. Fairly early in the game, the Beavers had a receiver break free well behind the last line of defense. Oregon State quarterback Lyle Moevao overthrew the receiver, who would have had an easy touchdown. Moevao did connect for a 55-yard TD pass play with 4:29 left in the second quarter, Sammy Stroughter clearly beating the Cardinal defenders.

"Those plays were the cornerbacks' fault," Osaisai said.

True freshman Michael Thomas saw his first collegiate action at corner, making seven solo tackles, eight tackles, in all. Thomas, playing in the Cardinal's nickel package, was victimized a few times by Moevao.

"I knew they were starting to pick on me," Thomas said. "I was playing timid. I need to be more aggressive. I don't want to let my team down. I need to do a better job of tackling."

"Thomas has made a lot of progress," Osaisai said. "I have confidence that he's going to improve as the season goes along."



COULD HAVE BEEN: Pritchard missed out on a long pass completion to Doug Baldwin in the game with the Beavers. Baldwin had a step on his man before making what looked to be a spectacular one-handed grab. Baldwin, who had control of the ball, had it stripped by the defender after Baldwin was on the ground. The play was originally called a completion, but the call was reversed after a review.

"I was shocked when they reversed the call," Harbaugh said. "In my opinion, Baldwin got the ball stripped out while he was on the ground. There is no conclusive evidence that that was the case. And there is no conclusive evidence that he didn't maintain the catch after he hit the ground. One of the Pac-10's explanations compared it to baseball when an outfielder has to come up with the ball. I don't like that analogy because in baseball, there is no one trying to grab at the mitt to try to get the ball out. Without the conclusive evidence, I don't see how that play gets overturned. I'm still waiting for the explanation from the officials."

Harbaugh was also concerned that Cardinal running backs were brought down by the collar from behind. Running back Anthony Kimble, for one, was blatantly taken down by the collar in front of the Oregon State bench early in the contest. The new rule this year calls for a penalty, but no flag was dropped.



INJURY REPORT: Offensive guard Gustav Rystedt is still out with concussion symptoms. Kick returner Corey Gatewood, who returned six kickoffs for 108 yards in Week 1, has ankle injury and may not play Saturday. Tight end Jim Dray, who has been sidelined after suffering a season-ending knee injury last year, returns to action Saturday.



LONE VOTE: Stanford received one vote in the Coaches' Top 25 poll this week.



E-mail John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.