Oregon State football drops yet another one to the Huskies, 37 to 13

The first half started out rough for Oregon State as they took the opening kickoff then to have Mannion sacked on the first play, which put the Beavs into a three and out for their first possession.

Washington struck on their first possession with a third down 54 yard touchdown pass play from Cyler Miles to Jaydon Mickens, who turned Oregon St.'s Ryan Murphy completely around.  All of which disappointed even more after the Oregon State's defense playing the rush very well on the first two downs, but in the end it put the Huskies up 7 to 0 early.

Oregon State followed up this opening shot by Washington by going to the ground with Storm Woods, which slowly did start to open up the passing game, and back-to-back Mannion to Victor Bolden plays got the Beavs into the Huskies side of the field.  The drive though stalls with Washington making the adjustments on the pass rush and coverage, and forces the Beavers into a punt situation that gave the Huskies the ball back on a poorly placed punt that resulted in a touchback.

But this week Washington has all the big plays early and strike again quickly on a 68 yard touchdown run by Dwayne Washington, which puts UW up 14 to 0 at the 4:47 mark of the first quarter. It was eerily similar to his accomplishments in last year's Husky win in Corvallis, where the Beavers were caught with no safety over the top to at least limit the damage.

Oregon State though gets a solid 39 yard kickoff return by Malcolm Marable, above, and then a roughing the passer tacked on to a pass play again puts the Beavers into Washington's side of the field.  But a good drive is killed on a 4th and 3 play call that comes up about 6 inches short.

At the start of the second quarter the Huskies is able to drive the field, but as they reach close to the red zone the Oregon State defense finally steps up and gets a key stop, but Washington is able to still increase the lead 17 to 0 with a 34 yard field goal.

The game then settled down into a bit of sloppy play, in that the Beavers can't seem to covert a first down, and then Washington does make some plays but implode with a couple key penalties.   Oregon State not to be outdone by Washington's penalties backed themselves up with their own yellow flags.

But then Mannion rolls out in his own end zone on a beautiful play action to hit Bolden for 72 yards to the Washington 23 yard line, above.  It is enough for the Beavs to then score on a Mannion 9 yard touchdown strike to Jordan Villamin, below.  And most importantly cutting the Washington lead 17 to 7 at the 2:30 mark of the second quarter.

The Beavers defense then is able to force a big three and out, including a key 3rd down sack of Miles (which almost was bigger with Miles fumbling but he is able to recover the ball).  Oregon State's offense though is not able to take advantage of having the momentum shift back into their hands, but a great punt and coverage play pins Washington at their two yard line forcing the Huskies to run the clock out for the first half.

The first half stats has Oregon State with 186 total yards with 159 in the air and only 27 on the ground.  Sean Mannion threw the ball 13 for 21 attempts and 1 touchdown, and Storm Woods rushed for 40 yards on 9 carries.   Washington goes into their locker room with 243 total yards, 143 passing yards and 100 rushing yards.   Cyler Miles completed 13 for 15 attempts, and Dwayne Washington rushed for 89 yards on 10 carries.

The second half started out more in the Beavs favor after a strong Washington 1st down rush play sees the Oregon State defense hold on the next two run plays to force a Huskies punt (again though it almost was a bigger stand as Dwayne Washington fumbled the ball but UW recovered to still keep their turnovers at zero).

Mannion goes play action again and this time it is a huge Rahmel Dockery diving 46 yard reception to put the Beavs in business, above. But then the huge turnover goes against Oregon State as Mannion throws the ball into UW's Travis Feeney's hands for a 59 yard interception.  But the Oregon State defense gets a slight win in holding the Huskies to only a field goal, and what could have been a bigger turning point in the game only sees Washington go up 20 to 7.

A Oregon State three and out then leads to an initial impressive Washington drive, but again the OSU defense steps up its game just at the right time to limit the damage to a field goal that puts UW up 23 to 7 at the 4:56 mark of the third quarter.

Yet another uninspired three and out for Oregon State gives the ball back to the Washington offense at the 3:18 mark.  But again the OSU defense keeps the game within reach as they force a fumble turnover to give the ball right back to the offense on the Huskies side of the field.  This time the tide finally goes the offense's way with an overturn call for a Villamin 11 yard touchdown catch.  The score allows the Beavs to creep closer on the scoreboard, and even though the 2-point conversion was not converted the score goes to 10 points separating the two teams as the game goes to the fourth quarter.

But the fourth quarter opened with Washington again driving the field, and the Huskies pull out the Beavs playbook a fly sweep reverse to score on a Mickens 36 yard touchdown to go up comfortably 17 points.

The play was reviewed, but the Pac-12 replays didn't detect that Mickens had stepped on the sideline shy of the 12 yard line. Not that the Huskies probably wouldn't have punched it in anyway, the way they were playing.

The Beavers offense just cannot respond, and more penalties nullify any forward progress the passing attack seems to have going with some strong Mannion to Villamin plays.

And the defense was just too worn down, which led to again a big play, this time a Darrell Daniels 68 yard touchdown reception, as the Huskies once again got behind the Beaver safeties to put in the complete dagger into the Oregon State chances, and allowing the Huskies go up 37 to 13 at the 7:17 mark of the fourth quarter.

The game wound down with the Beavs playing with some urgency, which seemed to be lacking the rest of the game.   The final Oregon State drive did show some grit as Mannion scrambled well and the receivers made nice plays, but it was only something to possibly build on for the next game for overall it was much too little too late, and the fourth down sack of Mannion was just indicative of the game for Oregon State.

The final stats saw Oregon State passing for 314 yards and rushing for only 47 yards, all of which added up to 341 total yards.

Mannion, above, threw 30 completions on 46 attempts with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, but also 4 sacks.   Storm Woods rushed for 47 yards on 11 carries and redshirt freshman Damien Haskins rushed for 27 yards on 6 carries.  The receivers were led by Bolden who had 145 yards on 10 receptions and Jordan Villamin with 61 yards on 5 receptions.   The Huskies had 481 total yards, which was incredibly well balanced with 255 passing yards and 226 rushing yards.   Cyler Miles completed 18 for 23 attempts for 253 yards, Washington rushed for 100 yards on 14 carries, and Washington's receivers were led by Mickens with 84 yards on 5 receptions.

It was a disappointing performance from the Oregon State team that came off one of its biggest wins over the last few years.   There were a few bright spots such as Jordan Villamin really stepping up as the leader in the receiving corps, but in the end the offense could not get any balanced attack established, with only 47 total rushing yards, and the defense gave up too many big plays.

Washington with its win goes to 7 and 5 and 3 and 5 in conference play to get to bowl eligibility, and lines up to play an interesting Apple Cup against a scrappy Washington State Cougars team next week.

Oregon State goes to 5 and 6 overall and 2 and 6 in Pac-12 play, and the Beavs have one more shot at bowl eligibility next Saturday but it will be an incredibly tall order against the #2 in the country Oregon Ducks (10-1/7-1).

The Civil War will kick off just after 5 PM, and air on ABC, it was announced this evening.

(Photos by Andy Wooldridge)