Observations on Beavers’ most complete game of season, sticking Wazzu up the kazoo
Oregon State’s Anthony Gould (left) goes up for pass alongside teammate Tre’Shaun Harrison. Gould hauled it in for a 17-yard touchdown in Beavers’ 24-10 win over Washington State Saturday at Reser Stadium (courtesy OSU sports communications)
Updated 10/16/2022 1:00 PM, 10/16/2022 2:10 PM
CORVALLIS — Saturday night proved fruitful for Oregon State, with a 24-10 victory over a recent nemesis and a step in the right direction in terms of bowl respectability. OSU (5-2 overall, 2-2 in Pac-12 action) needs one more win to be bowl-eligible and three to four wins to get to a bowl that the whole of Beaver Nation would embrace.
Some observations from your favorite veteran local scribe:
• The student section — I believe its capacity is about 7,000 — was full when I walked into Reser Stadium more than an hour before kickoff. They stood and cheered and raised havoc and conscientiously performed the first down chant and the Beaver chop until the not-so-bitter end. Coach Jonathan Smith credited the sellout crowd of 28,735 with making “a huge difference.”
So I’m not going to admonish a portion of the student attendees for storming the field afterward. That really should be saved for wins over the likes of Southern Cal or the Ducks. On the other hand, Washington State had won eight in a row against Oregon State. That should NEVER happen. So yeah, kids, yuk it up.
And was the weather beautiful or what? A high temperature of 90 degrees had cooled to 77 at kickoff. Just your typical Oregon day in mid-October.
• This one was basically considered a toss-up by oddsmakers, who may not have been taking into consideration the loss of OSU quarterback Chance Nolan to concussion protocol. The Beavers entered a 3 1/2 point favorite, which with the home-field advantage means the teams were considered even. Both came in 4-2 with hopes for laying the path for a big second half of the season. Only Oregon State accomplished that goal.
“We knew going in it was a must-win,” utility star Jack Colletto said. “And we got it.”
• While the OSU defense deserved the biggest plaudits, this was a true team win and the Beavers’ most complete performance of the season.
The defense stuffed the Wazzu run game (23 net yards) and did a number on Cougar quarterback Cameron Ward, a difficult-to-tackle scrambler but a mediocre-at-best passer. Ward was 25 for 54 passing for 345 yards, but was sacked six times and kept under control throughout the evening.
“An awesome effort, especially defensively,” Smith said. “We contained them pretty well. … (the OSU defense has) been working, growing, developing, buying in. A really good job tonight against a good football team.”
“(Ward) is a very good quarterback, and he can run,” said OSU linebacker John McCartan, who sacked Ward for a 12-yard loss. “We wanted to make sure we could keep him inside the pocket and then collapse on him. We did a pretty good job of it.”
Coordinator Trent Bray’s defensive plan was simple: Rush four and let the seven back defenders cover any receivers running routes. As the game wore on, the blitz package was used a few times — most notably with Jayden Grant’s safety blitz when he crashed in on Ward untouched and sacked him for a 10-yard loss on the Cougars’ final drive.
“We wanted to contain (Ward), take away the big plays, keep them from converting on third down and make them earn everything they got,” junior safety Kitan Oladapo said.
With backup QB Ben Gulbranson starting for the second straight game in the absence of Nolan, Smith and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren kept their offensive game plan “a little conservative,” Smith said. “That was the feeling, the way our defense was playing — contesting, getting at and around the quarterback.
“I’m proud of us offensively,” Smith said. “Not that we lit the scoreboard up, but we stuck to a plan, made it physical and had some good pieces in the run game.”
Oregon State ran on 47 of its 71 offensive plays, rushing for 203 yards and two touchdowns. Give the O-line credit; they provided plenty of daylight in all but the second quarter. Freshman Damien Martinez continued to progress, carrying 16 times for a season-high 112 yards. That included a 50-yard burst through a big hole that set up Colletto’s 2-yard third-quarter TD run to make it 24-10.
“We were going to try to make it physical,” Smith said. “We were going to grind the ball, run the ball. (Washington State has) a good defense that is physical and presents some problems. We did enough on offense, the way our defense played.”
Gulbranson completed 12 of 24 passes for 141 yards and a TD with one first-quarter interception. Take away an 0-for-7 showing in the second quarter — the only quarter the Cougars won — and it was a tidy performance by the 6-3, 210-pound redshirt sophomore.
“Ben managed the game great,” Colletto said. “Sometimes with the way our offense is working, you have to have a game manager-like mentality. He did that perfectly.”
Oregon State won the battle of special teams, too, despite redshirt freshman Atticus Sappington missing a 35-yard field goal attempt late in the game. Silas Bolden opened the game with a 60-yard kickoff return (it should be 62 — he started 2 yards deep in the end zone) that gave the Beavers a short field and led to their first touchdown.
OSU kicked off five times. Two were touchbacks; on two returns Wazzu started its possession inside the 20.
Then there was Luke Loecher, the best punter in Oregon State history. The 6-4, 210-pound senior, who delivers left-footed, punted five times for a 50.4-yard average and kept the Cougars in poor field position much of the game. Loecher, averaging 45.9 yards this season (on par to break his school record of 45.8 last year), would be eighth in the nation if he had enough punts to qualify. He is just short with 22 punts in seven games.
“Luke did an awesome job tonight flipping the field for us,” Smith said.
• Oregon State has had only one turnover in each of the last two games. The Beavers had only two penalties for 10 yards — not one major.
“It definitely helped,” Smith said. “We’re not trying to play penalty free, but we wanted to tighten up. It was a clean game for the most part.”
• Colletto scored touchdowns on plunges of 1 and 2 yards, running his career total of rushing TDs to 22, tying him with Terron Ward for 10th place on the OSU list. The 6-3, 235-pound senior played more offense than defense in this one, carrying six times for 14 yards. He battled with all his might for first downs, blocked for teammates, handed the ball off from the Wildcat formation and, for good measure, recovered a fumble.
“When I get down there (by the goal line), all I’m thinking is touchdown,” Colletto said. “That’s the only thing. Got to read my keys and get on in there (to the end zone). The O-line blocked like crazy. I’m just happy it all worked out.”
Why did the Beavers run so much?
“(The Cougars) like to stay in Nickel,” Colletto said. “We wanted to exploit that a little bit. That was the game plan.”
I asked Colletto if, being a veteran of several losses to the Cougars, if breaking the streak meant anything to him.
“You would have to bring (the streak) up,” the Camas, Wash., native said with a smile. “My mother is a Husky. We grew up in a household that didn’t like Cougars. Growing up in Washington, the past few years (against WSU) have been kind of rough to take. I feel fortunate that we executed and came out on the right side of it this time.”
• Gulbranson’s touchdown pass came under duress in the third quarter, and it looked like it might be headed for an interception. The ball found its way through traffic to Anthony Gould, who made a diving catch in the corner of the end zone to give Oregon State a 17-3 lead.
• In the absence of starting tight end Luke Musgrave, who is recuperating from knee surgery, true freshman Jake Velling is filling in nicely. The 6-4, 230-pound Velling caught a team-high four passes — three in the first quarter — for 63 yards.
“It’s tough to totally replace Luke,” Smith said, “but Jake has done a nice job.”
• On an evening in which things went smoothly and the Beavers played it rather conservatively, it was surprising how they handled the end of the first half.
With Oregon State leading 10-3, Washington State punted to the OSU 20 just 1:35 before halftime. The Cougars had two timeouts remaining. With the Beavers 80 yards from paydirt and their passing game not quite clicking, it figured they would run the ball three times, force the Cougars to use their timeouts and then punt the ball out of trouble with only seconds remaining in the half. Instead, Gulbranson threw two incomplete passes, then was sacked for a 9-yard loss. Fortunately, Loecher blasted a 59-yard punt to the WSU 30.
Still, Wazzu took the ball from there and, with one timeout left and 1:12 yet on the clock, drove into OSU territory before the half ended with the Cougars at the 42, just outside field-goal range.
• Sappington could have put the game out of reach had he made his 35-yard field-goal try. A successful kick would have put Oregon State up by three scores — 27-10 — with 3:26 remaining.
Instead, Washington State got the ball with a chance for a quick touchdown to cut the margin to 24-17. An onside kick would have provided the opportunity to go for another TD that could have sent the game into overtime. The Cougars drove from their 20 to the OSU 25, but the Beavers’ defense delayed their progress enough that the missed kick wasn’t an issue.
Sappington is 5 for 7 on field goals and 9 for 10 on PATs, but he missed a 40-yarder against Stanford that could have proved pivotal, followed by the shorter miss against WSU.
The walk-on from Central Catholic is filling in for junior Everett Hayes, who has missed the past three games with a groin injury. In the first three games, Hayes was 2 for 5 on field goals, missing all of his attempts beyond 23 yards.
For want of an Alexis Serna …
• Smith dodged when I asked if when Nolan returns, who will start at quarterback.
“We want to get Chance healthy,” the coach said. “Then we’ll see how he does at practice, do some work in the film room and see what kind of plan we have, and go from there. I do feel like we have two guys we can win games with.”
Gulbranson has done an able job running the team the past two weeks. He is 2-0. Nolan threw six interceptions in six quarters against Southern Cal and Utah. That said, he is the better quarterback, mobile and with a good arm and much more experience than Gulbranson. If Nolan is healthy, it says here he is the one who should start.
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