Can we please play all our games on the road? Or maybe we wear the off white jerseys at home? I don’t know what it is, but the Beavs have won 3 straight Pac-12 road games and they’ll need a couple more to head to a bowl game for the first time since 2013.
The Oregon State offense was boosted by the returns of Trevon Bradford, Jermar Jefferson and Gus Lavaka and it showed early. After a quick 7 in the first quarter the offense got rolling big in the 2nd quarter with a 28 spot. The defense bent but did not break often in the first half, coming up huge late in the 2nd to force a punt (aided by a pair of Hamilcar Rashe sacks) which led to a very impressive late drive by the Beavs. OSU got the ball at their own 8 yard line with under a minute to play. Luton diced up the Arizona defense before hitting Noah Togiai in the endzone with 4 seconds left in the half to give Oregon State a 35-19 lead.
The second half started off strong with a defensive stop and a Jermar Jefferson TD on the Beavs first drive to put OSU up by 23. Then things got a little interseting, cause that’s what the Beavs do. The Wildcats were able to put up consecutive TD drives while the Beav offense stalled with some 3 and outs. Luckily for OSU the Wildcats missed a 2 point and an XP bringing the lead down to 11. Following another stalled OSU drive the WIldcats were able to drive deep into OSU territory before a missed field goal wiped out all their effort. The Beav offense finally woke up and put together a 79 yard drive that was capped off by Isaiah Hodgins second score of the day. The Wildcats responded with 7 points of their own with just over 4 minutes to go. After a failed onside kick attempt the Beavs got the ball in Wildcat territory. The OSU offense was able to put the game away with a Tyjon Lindsey end around that went for 6 to give them a 56 -38 lead. It was the first time the Beavs have topped 50 points since 2013.
On the day Jake Luton went 20 for 26 with 328 yards and 3 TDs. Jermar Jefferson shined in his return with 105 yards and 3 TDs while Artavis Pierce had 114 of his own and a TD. Hodgins had 7 catches for 150 yards with 2 TDs and Noah Togiai had his NICEst game of the year with 5 catches 69 yards and a TD. Defensively the star for the Beavs was again Hamilcar Rashed with 4 sacks on the day
The win brings the Beavs within 2 games of bowl eligibility with 4 games left on the schedule. Can they do it?