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Beavs Contain Cougars 19-6

Oregon State improves to 4-0 on their return to Reser Stadium. They earned the win on a pretty bad first half performance and an acceptable second half. Jordan Poyer had three interceptions and Scott Crichton had three sacks for the best Beaver stats of the game.

By BeaverBeliever12
Photo by Andy Wooldridge

The first quarter got off to a good start with a 3 and out for the Cougars and a Beaver field goal following that. After that things got messy for the rest of the first half. Neither team played especially well, Wazzu could not run at all and their passing game consisted of essentially 1 or 2 big pass plays. The Beavs did a little better but not much, the pass protection was shaky at times and Sean Mannion had possibly his worst game of the season, forcing two bad throws in the first half that resulted in interceptions.In the second half the Cougars did just about as poorly as they did in the first half. The Beavers moved the ball better for two drives in the second half producing two touchdowns, which was enough to defeat the Cougars.

Jordan Poyer was the clear cut player of the game with three interceptions. I can't figure out why quarterbacks would choose to throw his way, especially on quick throws which happened twice. Scott Crichton also turned in a solid game with three sacks by my count. The entire defense played well especially against the run where on 11 actual rushes the Cougars had 38 yards. The pass defense was a little more shaky as they gave up a handful of big pass plays.

The offense did not play up to the standard they set in the first two Pac-12 games, but it was still enough. Mannion had two bad picks in the first half, one which landed in the waiting arms of a WSU defensive lineman. The favor was immediately returned by Anthony Watkins though so there was no real ill effect. Mannion's third pick was a dropped pass right into a defender's arms, so it's hard to blame Mannion for that one. Storm Woods got dinged up right at the beginning and so we saw a lot of Malcolm Agnew who looked plenty good though.

Anybody else unable to bear watching Romaine kick? I was finally starting to believe that he can consistently make kicks then he shanked the extra point at the end of the game. The most nervewracking part of watching the Beavs for me is if Romaine can make easy kicks, just like Kahut before him.

I want to see more screen passes to Cooks and Wheaton. That play has been lethal so far this season.

This was not OSU's best game of the season, but it is nice to know OSU can put in a bad performance and still feel in control against poor teams.

Go Beavs!