OSU’s Moore has tough act to follow

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Matt Moore says he knows he’ll have big shoes to fill in taking over for departed Oregon State quarterback Derek Anderson. And he’s not talking about Anderson’s size 18 feet.

Anderson is the school’s career leader with 79 touchdown passes and 11,249 passing yards. His passing yards rank him second on the Pacific-10 Conference career list behind Carson Palmer.

He threw for an Oregon State-best 29 touchdowns as a senior last season before heading to the NFL as a sixth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens.

“Big shoes to fill, you know what I mean? He threw for like two million yards here,” Moore said Sunday.

“Hopefully we don’t miss a beat,” he added.

Moore, a transfer who played at UCLA, is the No. 1 quarterback for Oregon State heading into fall camp, which starts today. Behind him on the depth chart is sophomore Ryan Gunderson, who has studied under Anderson for the past two seasons including a redshirt season in 2003.

Moore, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound junior, started for the Bruins five times and appeared in 13 total games between 2002 and 2003. His first year he started against Stanford, becoming the first true freshman to start for UCLA since 1995.

He opened the 2003 season as a starter, but was sidelined by a hand injury. For his career at UCLA, he completed 85 of 165 passes for 967 yards and four touchdowns.

Coach Mike Riley said naming a starter going into camp alleviates some of the decision-making when it comes to drills. But he added that the choice was not final, and praised Gunderson’s work ethic.

“He brings a ton to this program both on and off the field,” Riley said. “Who knows what is going to happen as we head into this fall camp?”

Gunderson said he was disappointed, but “no more than a bad test score.”

“There’s no pressure on me right now. Coach Riley named Matt the No. 1 going into camp, so there’s no pressure,” he said. “I’m just going to go out there and have some fun. I think that’s when I do my best.”

Besides Anderson, the Beavers have lost key playmakers in defensive end Bill Swancutt and free safety Mitch Meeuwsen from a team that went 7-5 overall and finished fourth in the Pac-10. They wrapped up the year with a 38-21 victory over Notre Dame in the Insight Bowl.

This season, the Beavers were picked in the Pac-10 media poll to finish seventh. They open the season at the newly expanded Reser Stadium against Portland State. The Beavers do not have the defending national champion USC Trojans on their schedule this year.

The Beavers return seven starters on offense, seven on defense and both their punter and kicker. Some of the key issues will be whether Moore can click with senior receiver Mike Hass, who set the Oregon State single-season records with 86 catches for 1,379 yards last year.

Another concern is the Beavers’ once powerful running game. Oregon State rushed for an average of just 70.7 yards per game last season, ranking the team among the worst in the nation.