Scouting Beavers a matter of research, guessing

For a decade, scouting Oregon State was a simple task: Look at game film from coach Mike Riley’s teams, maybe view a few tapes from the previous year and — voilá — you’re set.

Things are different this year: First-year coach Gary Andersen, formerly of Wisconsin and Utah State, doesn’t yet have a body of work for UA coaches to judge trends and tendencies. It doesn’t help that OSU quarterback Seth Collins is a true freshman, either, or that the Beavers are coming off a bye week.

So how has Arizona prepared? Well, it’s complicated.

“You go back and look, not just where the head coach was, but also where the coordinators were. Go back and look at some of the stuff they’ve done,” coach Rich Rodriguez said. “You’ve got to prepare for the players they have, what they’ve done now and in the past and make sure you’re sound on some things they’ve put in during he open date.”

The lack of tape, and what’s at stake — the Wildcats have been blown out by UCLA and Stanford in back-to-back weeks — has led to some uncomfortable moments throughout the week. The UA must prepare for not only Collins but a multiple-set attack that’s night and day from Stanford’s ground-and-pound offense.

“Man,” UA linebacker Sir Thomas Jackson, “they’re fast.”