Stuck motionless in postgame traffic Saturday night in Corvallis, I had time to jot down some thoughts on the Oregon State Beavers and the Oregon Ducks after a long day of watching college football in the sometimes stormy Willamette Valley.

I got to wondering if Oregon might actually score more field goals than touchdowns this season. The Ducks’ Paul Martinez kicked a school-record six field goals in Saturday’s 47-14 win over Montana, and in just two games in 2005 he has booted 11 (or two more than Oregon kicked all of last year). The Ducks have scored seven touchdowns.

I entertained the notion that we should put Oregon State’s Mike Hass on the trail of our most wanted fugitive terrorists. The senior wideout, who had 11 receptions for 178 yards and a game-tying fourth-quarter touchdown in Saturday’s 30-27 win over Boise State, seems to catch everything else.

I wondered if the Ducks shouldn’t put Eric Steimer on scholarship. The redshirt sophomore from Bend is currently Oregon’s starting snapper for both punts and place-kicks. He’s also a walk-on (which means he’s paying his own way to school) who has beaten out at least one scholarship player for his position in the lineup.

I thought about one of the best feel-good stories in college football today, OSU’s Alexis Serna, the kid who last year as a freshman missed three extra-point kicks in his first game and cost the Beavers a chance to upset then-defending national co-champion LSU. He not only managed to keep his job, he’s excelled at it. After Serna kicked the decisive field goal against Boise State on Saturday – his third three-pointer of the game – Oregon State coach Mike Riley said he never had a doubt. ”I don’t even think about Alexis missing kicks,” the coach said.

It dawned on me that Oregon State has yet to sell out its gorgeous, newly expanded football arena. After coming up short of a sellout in the opener last week against Portland State, it seemed a lock that Reser Stadium would be filled to its new capacity – 43,300 – against Boise State, a nationally prominent Northwest rival. So sure were the Beavers of a full house that they declared the game a sellout days earlier. Yet Saturday’s official attendance was 42,876 – a Reser record, but not a sellout – and a good number of paying customers came disguised as empty seats. Meanwhile, down Interstate 5 in Eugene, UO’s Autzen Stadium was sold out – 58,169, or more than 4,000 OVER capacity – for Division I-AA Montana.

I decided that Matt Sieverson is snakebitten. A reserve defensive back at OSU, the former Class 4A state prep offensive player of the year at Bend High saw increasing time on the Beavers’ special teams as a true freshman last season, only to miss the big games – the Civil War and the Insight Bowl victories – because of mononucleosis. Now, after playing extensively on special teams in the 2005 opener against Portland State, Sieverson didn’t suit up for the Boise State game because he’s recovering from a different ailment: pneumonia.

And finally, I convinced myself that while both teams are now 2-0, it’s too early to project either the Beavers or the Ducks for big-time bowl contention. OSU’s Hass, who grips reality as securely as he does a football, sized it up well: ”You’ve got to be a good team to beat a good team,” he said, pointing to the win over Boise State. ”But we’re only two games into the season, and we haven’t even started Pac-10 play.”

Both Oregon State and Oregon will face nationally ranked opponents for the first time this season on Saturday – the Beavers on the road to play No. 11 Louisville, the Ducks at home against No. 23 Fresno State.

It should be a telling weekend.