Oregon State falls to Minnesota, 48-14

Minnesota ran all over the Beavers Saturday night. Cruising to an easy victory behind a strong rushing game. The Golden Gophers racked up over 250 yards on the ground and 5 rushing touchdowns. Oregon State is left looking for answers with their third straight poor performance in the books to start the 2017 season.

FIRST QUARTER

The Beavers won the toss and decided to test out their defense from the get-go. Oregon State (barely) forced a Minnesota three-and-out to start the game. The ensuing Beaver drive stalled though and the Gophers responded with a 67-yard touchdown strike where the senior saftey, Brandon Arnold, was caught out of place, (7-0 Minnesota). The Beavers tried to answer but Noah Togiai lost a (questionable) fumble and Minnesota turned that into a field goal (10-0 Minnesota). On the very next possession Jake Luton was sacked and stripped deep in Oregon State territory. Minnesota recovered and quickly scored again to take a 17-0 lead.

SECOND QUARTER

Just when things looked unmanageable, Oregon State put together a nice little run. Jordan Villamin had a nice touchdown catch in the endzone to get the Beavers on the board (17-7). On the next possession Bright Ugwoegbu recovered a Minnesota fumble to put the Beavers in great field position and Artavis Pierce finished the drive off with a touchdown run to make it (17-14). Later, Minnesota tacked on a field goal and went into the locker room up (20-14). All things considered the Beavers were in a good spot and looked forward to getting the ball to start the second half.

THIRD QUARTER

Oregon State’s offense was quickly forced to punt to start the second half. Minnesota also punted on their first possession of the second half, but Trevon Bradford signaled for a fair catch inside the Oregon State 10-yard line. Ryan Nall quickly fumbled and Minnesota recovered and capitalized with a short Rodney Smith touchdown run (27-14). The Beaver offense needed a strong drive to stay in the game, but instead had a particularly horrible three-and-out. Minnesota continued to move the ball with ease and Shannon Brooks added another short touchdown run to give the gophers a big lead (34-14).

FOURTH QUARTER

As the fourth quarter got underway Minnesota proceeded to go on a 15-play, nine and a half minute drive punctuated by yet another Shannon Brooks touchdown run (41-14). The gophers didn’t throw the ball the entire drive, just stuffed it down Oregon State’s throat with 15 straight running plays. After another Oregon State punt; Minnesota added insult to injury when backup quarterback (maybe co-starter) Demry Croft scored on a 64-yard quarterback keeper.