Mike Riley, Rick Neuheisel Forced to Right Their Ships Saturday

As this week’s Monday Night Football broadcast drew to a conclusion, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden talked up the Week 3 Redskins-Cowboys encounter. Such is their job, but what caught me off-guard was each speaking of the 1-1 Dallas Cowboys like a .500 team in mid-November using cliches like “in these rivalry games, you can throw records out the window,” and “don’t count out the Dallas Cowboys.”

Bearing in mind how grating I find overly dramatized evaluation early into a season, I tread lightly declaring Saturday’s game between Oregon State and UCLA must-win for both teams.

Yes, it’s still September. And yes, the encounter in Reser Stadium is the Pac-12 Conference opener for both teams. But both have already dug trenches via their uninspired play that if they are to get any deeper, the 2011 season cannot be salvaged.

That means for Rick Neuheisel, there is so much more at stake than pulling to .500 and starting the conference slate 1-0. A lost season for Neuheisel translates into a lost job. Every coach tabbed to rebuild a program reaches a mandate moment, that point in his tenure when tangible results are all that matter. Neuheisel’s at that time. A bowl game is an absolute must for his Bruins, and perhaps not even a simple bowl game berth is enough to keep him in Westwood (or Pasadena, as it were). After all, his predecessor, Karl Dorrell, was let go in a bowl season — his fifth straight, no less.

Neuheisel has been to a single bowl game, in 2009 earning what was literally the final bowl berth. The then-EagleBank-now-Military Bowl accepted the Bruins as a result of contractual partner ACC failing to qualify enough eligible teams.

Last year’s descent back below mediocrity rendered this Neuheisel’s mandate moment, and thus far the Bruins are failing to meet it. UCLA has one good half to its credit, the final two quarters in the Week 1 loss at Houston. With Kevin Prince on the sidelines, Richard Brehaut continued to make it readily apparent that the UCLA offense clicks more with him behind center than Prince. The Bruins scored 27 of their 34 points with Brehaut on the field, yet the reins returned to Prince. Perplexing indeed.

Since, UCLA sleepwalked through a narrow defeat of a San Jose State team that in 2010 was among the Bowl Subdivision’s very worst. Brehaut came on against Texas and again played well, but like the Bruins’ previous encounter with a Lone Star State team, it was too little too late. The UCLA defense that had been its saving grace in recent seasons could stop nothing, and Prince threw three interceptions in the first quarter. By the time Brehaut came on, the team was mentally toast.

Overcoming that mindset of defeat is critical to this weekend. In Oregon State, UCLA draws an opponent against which it can regain some confidence. The Beavers have struggled to stop the pass in losses to Sacramento State and Wisconsin, giving Brehaut some breathing room to operate — assuming he starts. The Daily Bruin reports the job is only tentatively Brehaut’s.

The lack of stability at quarterback may be behind some of the Bruins’ uncertainty, and thus they’re sluggish performance. Brehaut getting going early is critical to avoid a further decline, and failing to beat a team that lost to Sac State would certainly fuel the dejection evident in the Bruins’ play.

OSU has its own quarterback issues. Ryan Katz’s ineffectiveness without the Bros. Rodgers alongside him led to his benching in favor of this week’s starter, Sean Mannion. Mannion’s first start is just in time for the arrival of James Rodgers, back from a torn ACL suffered last October.

Like UCLA, OSU has just one good half to its credit, if that. Perhaps one good quarter is more accurate. Freshman Malcolm Agnew pushed OSU against Sac State after two-and-a-half quarters of utter indifference. The Beavers’ inability to stop the Hornets carried over into Week 2 and their trip to Camp Randall. Wisconsin completely bullied the Beaver offense and scored on its defense with ease.

Mike Riley-coached teams are known for their overachieving, so when one underachieves it’s surprising. It becomes downright shocking when Riley teams flounder for consecutive seasons, but that’s the case thus far. The stuck-in-mud feel of these Beavers is almost a carbon copy of how the 2010 version finished, which was out of the bowl picture for the first time since 2005.

There was myriad reasons to believe OSU would again struggle, but believing in Riley’s ability to get the most out of his players combined with a favorable home schedule tricked me into overvaluing OSU. And I wasn’t alone.

His success has earned Riley deserved leeway. Saturday’s game isn’t a potential career killer as it is for the man on the opposite sidelines. But as neighbor Oregon rakes in millions and upgrades its attire, its facilities and its profile, Riley’s position grows more precarious. An 0-3 hole with two home losses might deepen the restlessness Oregon envy is giving Beaver nation.

A UCLA defense that despite its reputation might struggle to slow Long Beach Poly could be the medicine for what ails OSU’s offense. UCLA is surrendering 215 rushing yards per game, a veritable red carpet for the aforementioned Agnew to march into his Pac-12 career.

The openings are there for both teams. One can start the arduous process of redirecting course with a win in Corvallis. The other might think about loading the lifeboats.