Oregon State Football: What We Learned Versus Hawaii

Welcome to week 2 What We Learned where after each game we take a look back and highlight some takeaways. Over the weekend, the Oregon State Beavers lost a frustrating matchup to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, 28-31. Let’s see what we learned.

The offense, not as advanced as we thought

Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images

Remember when we thought this offense was going to be able to score at will (for the most part, anyway)? Well that seemed to be the case for the first six quarters of this young season, but in the second half of the Hawaii game, the offense fell completely flat. After scoring four touchdowns and racking up 282 yards in the first 30 minutes, this vaunted offense amassed just 150 yards and zero points. Their seven second half possessions ended liked this: punt x4, turnover on downs x2, and a missed field goal. Coach Smith and Lindgren will have to go back to the drawing board and get things back on the right track next week versus Cal Poly.

The defense, may have its moments

Remember when we thought the defense was going to be the big liability? Well, in the second half when the offense was failing to sustain drives and get points, the defense kind of bent but didn’t totally break. While the Beaver defense did benefit from bad nights from Hawaii’s wide receiver Cedric Byrd II (uncharacteristic drops) and kicker Ryan Meskell (three missed field goals), they managed to snag two takeaways. We also saw Beavers in the backfield (not quite to the extent of last week against Oklahoma State) on their way to tallying five tackles for a loss and three sacks.

Win or Lose, Whittley’s gonna eat

Speaking of the defense. With time running out and the game pretty well out of reach, the Oregon State defense did force one last punt from the Hawaii offense trying to eat up some clock. My favorite play of the game came from that series when Jordan Whittley blew by Hawaii’s left tackle and engulfed the quarterback, Cole McDonald. Most people might have tuned out by then, but if you want to check it out, it happened when there was 1:05 left in the fourth quarter (about 3:35:19 into the broadcast which still on the Stadium College Football Facebook page).

No running back records were broken

Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images

But one wide receiver had a career day. Hawaii’s JoJo Ward torched the Beavers’ secondary on his way to a 10 catch and 189 yard performance. He scored all four of Hawaii’s touchdowns which ties the school’s receiving record.

This team has some fire, but not the right kind

In the end, there was a couple examples of poor discipline when we saw Kaleb Hayes take a swing at his own teammate, Avery Roberts, and then after the game was over Gus Lavaka threw multiple punches at a Hawaii player. I’m curious as to what Coach Smith does with these two; hopefully he sets an example.