Balance is the byword for OSU against ASU.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

CORVALLIS - If it's not one thing, it's another.

With the Oregon State passing game on the upswing, it's the running game that has raised concerns as the Beavers prepare for their Pac-10 opener Saturday night at Arizona State.

"I would say you've hit the nail on the head for where we have to go," OSU coach Mike Riley said Tuesday. "To think we could play a one-dimensional game in the first quarter against Arizona State like we did against Idaho State is not realistic. We're going to have to get that balance."

The Beavers passed on 14 of their first 18 plays against Idaho State last week. That was in response to the previous game, when Cincinnati massed its defense at the line of scrimmage to limit the effectiveness of OSU tailback Yvenson Bernard.

It worked. Bernard finished with 30 yards on 16 carries against the Bearcats, and OSU had a total of 36 yards on 21 carries. That was in stark contrast to the season opener, when Bernard ran 29 times for 165 yards and the Beavers netted 241 on the ground.

Riley sensed off that performance, the OSU running game "appeared to be pretty stable. That was encouraging, but since then it's been sporadic and we need to be much more consistent."

After three nonleague games, the Beavers are rushing for an average of 150.7 yards. That ranks ninth in the Pac-10, ahead of only Arizona.

Bernard, who ran for 1,307 yards and averaged 100.5 yards in each game he played in 2006, has 249 yards and an average of 83 to rank ninth in the Pac-10. There are two quarterbacks averaging more rushing yardage, and he averaged only 15 carries in the past two games.

That was about half a game's worth of carries for the Bernard of last season, when he had a league-most 296 rushes even though he missed one game entirely.

Have the Beavers forgotten who carries the load around here?

"It's not really a big concern," said Bernard, who had 54 yards on 14 carries last week. "We really didn't need to run the ball against Idaho State.

"I'm just happy I'm healthy right now. The Pac-10 is going to start, and I'm pretty sure we're going to run the ball a lot."

Bernard said he suffered mild shoulder stingers in both the Cincinnati and Idaho State games, an ailment that he said goes back to high school and isn't a concern.

"I'm fresh and going into the Pac-10 like this is a good thing," Bernard said.

Disregard the Idaho State game as an indicator of the role for Bernard in the OSU offense, Riley told the media at his weekly gathering. Last week's emphasis offensively was to prove that Sean Canfield and his receivers could be a potent part of the offense, or at least equal to the Bernard rushes.

"It has to be together, and one without the other is not going to be the way to play," Riley said. "We've had a good running game, we've had a bad game and we've had a decent passing game. Now can we put the passing and running together and leave the middle out?"

Coach against coach

Riley, much like ASU coach Dennis Erickson did the previous day, wanted to brush aside any thought there's something special about this game because Erickson coached at OSU, in between the two tenures of Riley.

"I really think it's a lot bigger deal to people outside than it is" to the two coaches, Riley said. "Dennis has got a good job, and I know he is excited about his program. I'm really excited about our program and being back at Oregon State. That's probably it.

"Any talk about (the coaching matchup) is not amongst the coaches. It makes for good copy out there, but it's not a factor for us."

The two did coach against each other last season, when the Beavers blanked Erickson's Idaho team, 38-0.

"I have a ton of respect for him and I like Dennis," Riley said. "He's a great guy and a good coach.

"We both left (OSU). I was fortunate enough to come back. He's coaching at another place, he's probably excited about that, I know I'm excited about this."

Injury update

Reserve linebacker Dwight Roberson will be out for at least two weeks with a bruised knee bone. The Beavers are still discussing whether to bring true freshman Keith Pankey out of his redshirt status to provide more depth at linebacker.

Defensive end Jeff Van Orsow (bruised thigh) will be "limited" in practice for a couple of days, Riley said, but is expected to start at ASU.

O S U f o o t b a l l

OREGON STATE AT ARIZONA STATE

7 p.m. Saturday, Sun Devil Stadium. TV: None. Radio: KKNX-AM (840). More coverage at www.registerguard.com