No. 22: Oregon State
The success of first-year starting quarterback Sean Canfield or Lyle Moevao will determine how far the 2007 Beavers go. Enough pieces are in place at other critical positions to make it that simple. In coach Mike Riley’s system, if the quarterback flourishes, the team does the same.
The Beavers have veteran offensive and defensive lines, an unbelievably deep corps of linebackers, an experienced secondary and two of the finest specialists in the country in Sammie Stroughter and Alexis Serna.
There’s plenty of depth, as Riley has done a nice job of redshirting the high school signees in his three recruiting classes, and filling needs with four or five junior college recruits in each cycle. His staff had little changeover from 2006, when it was upgraded significantly with the addition of Jay Locey and Joe Seumalo.
The schedule is tougher, with probable Pac-10 contenders Oregon, Arizona State, USC and California and rival Washington State all on the road. But it all comes down to quarterback. If Canfield or Moevao play as predecessor Matt Moore did in an interception-filled 2005, they’ll struggle. But if they can emulate the efficient, productive 2006 version of Moore — who was also in his second season under Riley — look out.
2007 Schedule
A. 30 Utah
S. 6 at Cincinnati
S. 15 Idaho State
S. 22 at Arizona State
S. 29 UCLA
O. 6 Arizona
O. 13 at California
O. 27 Stanford
N. 3 at USC
N. 10 Washington
N. 17 at Washington State
D. 1 at Oregon
Also coming to AthlonSports.com this summer:
– Top 25 Heisman Hopefuls
– Live chats with Athlon editors
– Conference-preview videocasts.
Follow the entire 2007 football season on AthlonSports.com where we preview every game from every conference in Division I-A and recap the weekend’s BCS action in conference notebooks.
Other in-season offerings:
– Fantasy Games
– Sideline Spirit Voting
– Scenes From Saturday
– Updated Athlon 119
– Much more

- Top-25 Classes: No. 4 Oklahoma
- CFB: Quarterback Battles
- NFL: Super Bowl Takeaway
- Golf: Stricker Removes Drama in L.A.





You must have an account to post comments. Go ahead and register now. It's completely free and takes 5 seconds.