Oregon State football coach Mike Riley on facing, and upsetting, the Trojans in recent years:

"Oh I don't know, you know it takes a great effort. I have a ton of respect for the school and the program and the work Pete has done and that's just personal. I think that it's either going to bring out this best in you or bury you and I'm just proud we've competed well and there have been good football games in general.

I think the whole USC deal with the last few years has made everybody in the conference either have to rise up or fall way behind and it's been good for everybody. Its one of those deals that you got to go year by year and you can't rely on anything in the past. We just look at it as a great challenge and a great opportunity for our team to get better and grow."

(on this year's team)

"Well, they're very impressive to watch as we study them on tape.

I think they're defense as always is really, really strong and very aggressive. I'm very impressed with their front, they don't give people many breaks. They're high energy and really hard to block, and that's going to be a key factor in the game. If you can ever get to it and throw, their secondary is really aggressive and good too, so there's all sorts of factors there that are big.

Offensively, they've got that balance going with a really good running game. I've really, really been impressed with Matt Barkley. I thought in the last game he played with a ton of poise, made some really, really big throws that were, you know they had some people around them and he was pacing in the pocket. All those parts are real and I think they look obviously like a really good team."

Oregon State coach Mike Riley

(on the team as a whole)

"We lost a lot of great players from last year. We had seven players drafted, so we're filling a lot of holes."

(On the health of the Rogers brothers)

"Both of those guys are 100 percent going into camp."

(on the health quarterbacks Lyle Moevao and Sean Canfield)

"I'm hoping that by the time we get to the first game we will have two senior quarterbacks ready to win in this league."

(on beating USC two of the past three years)

"I don't think there's a lot of magic to it. You have to play a great football game and you have to finish it, which is always the crux of it.

"It takes a really, really efficient game. It has to be efficient... lasting against that team is the hard part."

Asked about playing USC tonight on national television, Oregon State head coach Mike Riley took the time to rave about the USC defense.

"I think that this team, defensively, is as talented as any that I've seen."

"The way that they play to that talent is very impressive. They play with great vision on the football... They have a feel for the patterns, but they are reacting to the ball impressively. That's why they can make plays.

"You've got to get rid of the football in an appropriate time or you're going to get that pressure from the rush."

Oregon State, perhaps the surprise team in the Pac-10 over the past two seasons, has some work to do to maintain that lofty position this season.

The Beavers, who open the season Thursday night at Stanford, will do so without departed tailback Yevenson Bernard nor any of the starting front seven from its defense.

"We do have guys that have experience playing but it's always difficult to take that whole front seven and replacing them," said coach Mike Riley.

Bernard had rushed for 1,000 yards in each of the past three seasons. His 3,862 career rushing yards place him second on Oregon State's career list behind Ken Simonton's 5,044 yards. Freshmen Ryan McCants and Jacquizz Rodgers, and El Camino College transfer Jeremy Francis, will pick up the slack.

"It's a bit of a changing of the guard," said Riley. "We're looking for that next back. It's really important to the foundation of what we do offensively... I like the look of our two freshmen."