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Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Oregon State’s defense struggled to stop the run and gave up another career night to the opposing running back. Arizona State sophomore running back, Eno Benjamin, ran for 321 yards and 3 TDs to lead the Sun Devils to a comfortable victory.
On the other side of the ball Beaver RB, Jermar Jefferson, had his own career night. Rushing for 254 yards (2nd most yards in OSU history) and 2 TDs. Jefferson accumulated 31 carries and probably could have broken the record, but was pulled mid-way through the 4th quarter once the game was clearly out-of-hand.
Earlier this week Bob Lundeberg reported that the Oregon State coaching staff would not experiment with a 4-man defensive front, citing a lack of depth.
Defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar said Oregon State will not explore a four-man front due to a lack of depth. #GoBeavs
— Bob Lundeberg (@The_Real_Bob) September 26, 2018
The Beavers primarily use two or three defensive lineman at the line of scrimmage and struggle to clog those running lanes or get any penetration into the backfield. Defensive line depth was a huge question mark going into the season and will be something the coaching staff will look to address on the recruiting front.
Overall, this game wasn’t as bad for Beaver fans as the final score indicated. The Beavers started off real slow on both sides of the ball and found themselves down 24-3. Jermar Jefferson and the offense came alive in the 2nd quarter and started to make things interesting.
After just 8 total yards in the first quarter, the Beavers had 220 in the second.
— Steve Gress (@stevegress19) September 30, 2018
The Beavers were down just one score (24-17), until a giving up a 75-yard drive in less than a minute before halftime that halted Oregon State’s momentum.
Oregon State was able to open up running lanes for Jefferson, but the offensive line struggled to protect the quarterback. Conor Blount was sacked and under pressure for much of the night. Blount took some big hits and will need extra time in the ice bath after this game. The worst thing to come out of this game was watching Isaiah Hodgins grab his hamstring after a big catch. He did not return to the game and could be out for next weeks game as well.
Oregon State will head home to take on Washington State before getting a much needed BYE week.