Oregon State Football: What We Learned Versus Washington

Welcome to week eleven of What We Learned. The Oregon State Beavers lost to Washington Huskies, 23-42, after again digging themselves in a huge hole giving up 28 first quarter points. Let’s look at the takeaways from this game.

This team has to get punched in the mouth before it wakes up

Seriously, in over half their games this year, Oregon State has found themselves in huge first half deficits, only to come back to make things interesting. It wasn’t any different at Husky Stadium on Saturday. After the Beavers gave up 28 points in the first quarter to the Huskies, they decided that they had spotted the home team enough points to give them a false sense of security. Huge catches made by the wide receivers and solid runs from Jermar Jefferson gto the offense rolling, and then some trickery by special teams including a drop-kick onside kick and a fake punt made things interesting until late in the fourth quarter.

David Morris makes a play right away in sophomore debut

Speaking of that onside kick. Beaver fans may have noticed that sophomore safety David Morris saw his first action of the year after dealing with injuries. Morris was the one who recovered that kick that pinged off of an unsuspecting Washington player. It looked like a play straight out of the Water Boy. I just wish that punter Daniel Rodriguez went down the line with same internal dialogue:

Though Morris did not record any other statistics, it was good to see him out there having fun after recovering that kick.

Jermar Jefferson breaks freshman rushing record

Jefferson officially has surpassed Jacquizz’s record for freshman rushing yards and currently sits at 1316 yards on the season, good for fifth in the nation. It was also his seventh 100 rushing yard performance of the season. He is now in the top-ten for Oregon State’s list of single season rushing yardage and could crack the top-five with a solid performance in the Civil War.

Defense has one of their better days

Believe it or not, the defense had one of it’s better games in a couple of statistical categories. They set season highs in sacks with three, and tackles for a loss with 13. Outside of that first quarter, they held Washington to 231 yards and 14 points. You could argue that Washington let off the gas after building a 28-3 lead, but Washington starters were still playing until halfway through the fourth quarter. While the slow starts have sure gotten old, you have to appreciate how this team has not given up mid-game like so many times in the previous regime.

Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin finish careers 4-0 against the Beavers

Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images

With the Oregon State football team falling on hard times the last half dozen years, there are many players and teams that have found great success against the doormats, I mean Beavers. I can’t think of another combination of players that had the four game careers against the Beavers quite like the duo of Browning and Gaskin.

Browning: 75-of-105 (71% completion), 1037 yards, 13 touchdowns, one interception.

Gaskin: 74 carries, 503 yards (6.8 yards per rush), 4 touchdowns (one receiving).

Thank goodness they are gone!