Another Day, Another Loss: OSU loses 54-24 to Cal

Oregon State fell in another lopsided loss Saturday evening, losing to Cal 54-24. OSU gave up 760 yards of total offense to Cal (the most yardage any team has EVER gained on ANY Beaver team EVER), while only generating 398 yards in response. It was an ugly night.

The Beavers struggled to gain any traction on either side of the ball in the first half, allowing 24 points and only mustering up 10 points in response. The defense slipped loose for a couple sacks on Goff, but for the most part Goff picked apart the defense in anyway he saw fit. He consistently hit his receivers for huge gains, including two separate 50 yard bombs to Maurice Harris and Trevor Davis to set up Cal scores in the first half. Goff ended his night with 453 yards and 6 touchdowns.

The OSU offense largely remained stagnant until the very end of the second quarter, when Mitchell threw four straight passes to Jordan Villamin (including the touchdown) to cap a 32 second drive.

Mitchell showed little life outside of that, mostly running for his life away from Cal defenders and throwing errant passes. The latest plug-in at RB was Paul Lucas, above,  who ripped off a couple big runs. The Beavers were never able to truly establish the running game without Ryan Nall, however. Lucas ended his night with 13 carries for 70 yards, which was largely supplemented by a 33 yard run down the sidelines late in the first quarter.

They went into halftime losing 24-10. Mitchell, above, was able to get two touchdowns (one on the ground, one in the air) against the porous Cal defense, but still only completed 14-28 passes for 161 yards before leaving the game with a concussion.

The second half brought more of the same. Goff connected on huge passes against OSU's decimated secondary that couldn't keep contact in coverage to the tune of two scores early in the third.

Cal's Bryce Treggs gets completely away, above, for an easy catch, to start the 3rd quarter barrage that put the game away.

Simply put, Goff ate the Beaver defense like a bowl of cereal. OSU could not stop Cal in any way, shape or form, particularly shown when Cal's 300-lb. freshman fullback Malik McMorris was able to join the fun, scoring on an 11-yard touchdown.

Yep, the Beavers couldn't even stop the fat guy from scoring on them.

Goff, above, finished having completed 26 of 37 passes, for 423 yards and 6 touchdowns.

The Beavers were never able to adequately respond on offense. After Mitchell left the game on a late-hit to the head after he threw a wide-open five yard throw to Noah Togiai, above, Marcus McMaryion was handed the reins. It did not go well.

McMaryion came in for the 2-point conversion after Mitchell went down and promptly underthrew a pass intended for Togiai in the corner that was batted away. Mitchell would not come back into the game. Per usual, McMaryion played poorly, ending the game with one completion on eight attempts for 33 yards.

In one instance, Goff threw an interception late in the third quarter to Gabe Ovgard, above, and gave the Beavers a good opportunity to score while they were only down 44-24. The Beavers followed that up with a yikes-inducing possession, getting penalized and sacked until it was 4^th and 30.

Early in the fourth quarter, OSU had another opportunity to cut the game to a two possession game with the score 44-27. They failed to get two yards on third and fourth down and turned it over deep in Cal territory.

Watching this game was pretty miserable. The Beavers are borderline unwatchable this year, mostly because they just can't compete. Football games are really long, and with the Beavers playing like they are, watching them is not dissimilar to engaging oneself in a 3.5 hour long chore.

As painful as it was wasting a Saturday night watching the Beavers lose, it will just be that much sweeter when Anderson and Co. (hopefully) turn things around. For every three-and-out we are forced to watch now, perhaps it will make us collectively jump that much higher after a big touchdown pass when the team is better.

Looking forward, the Beavers take on Washington in their last home game next week. After that, the Civil War looms. Brace yourselves.

(Photos by Andy Wooldridge)