The Spot like the Game was No Good

It’s bad form to blame referees for a loss. There’s 100’s of moments and variables during the course of a game and when you add them all up it determines who came out victorious. But I’m throwing all of my normal rational rules out the window because OREGON STATE GOT SHAFTED!

Yes, Tristian Gebbia and the passing game was non-existent. Yes, Oregon State struggled to stop the run in the first half. Yes, the Beavers got blanked in the 2nd half. But none of that is an issue if the ball is spotted correctly and Oregon State has four more chances to hand it off to Jermar Jefferson inside the 5-yard line to take the lead. That call had a HUGE impact on the outcome of this game. Ugh anyways I’ll try and move-on and talk about the rest of the game.

FIRST HALF

The Beavers had the best start to a football game of all-time. After forcing a three-and-out this happened...

The special teams touchdown was quickly answered after a long Washington drive. The Huskies found out early that they could push Oregon State’s defensive line back and create easy yards on the ground for their stable of running backs.

Oregon State’s offense was really bad tonight. Jermar Jefferson and BJ Baylor were effective on the ground, but Tristian Gebbia and the passing game was an absolute disaster. Oregon State only had 252 yards of offense and Jermar Jefferson was more than half of that. The fact that the Beavers couldn’t set up some sort of play-action pass for big gains is baffling, but I digress. The first half was a high-scoring affair and Oregon State scored a touchdown late in the half to make it a 24-21 ballgame. With the Beavers receiving the kickoff in the 2nd half things seemed to be trending in the right direction.

SECOND HALF

Both teams defenses tightened up in the second half. A quick three-and out for Oregon State seemed ominous but when the Huskies missed a short field goal attempt the Beavers had new life. That’s when Oregon State came to their senses and leaned on Jermar Jefferson and the running game. A 13-play 75 yard drive deep into Washington territory put Oregon State in prime position to take the lead and massive momentum. Until welp yes you know already the Beavers were swindled by the infamous Pac-12 refs. On 3rd-and-1 Jefferson appeared to get the first down, but an iffy spot and subsequent measure put the Beavers at 4th-and-inches. The Beavers wisely decided to go for and again gave it to Jermar Jefferson who appeared to pick up the first down. An abysmal spot instead gave the Huskies the ball back. I don’t think it can be understated how bad it was.

Later in the game Oregon State had Washington in a 3rd-and-17 situation hoping to hold Washington to a field goal with a chance to score a touchdown and win the game. Washington’s QB, Dylan Morris, took off hoping to get a first down when Kitan Oladapo flew in to stop him just short of the marker. The referees deemed the collision a targeting penalty against Oladapo giving Washington the first down. Despite the adversity the Beavers used their remaining timeouts and forced a field goal to get the ball back with limited time remaining. The limited time was the Beavers downfall though because they couldn’t lean on Jefferson anymore. Tristian Gebbia never had a shot at moving the ball against Washington’s defense and an interception ended the game once and for all.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

• Tristian Gebbia had a real bad game, but Washington is the best defense he’ll face all year. If Gebbia doesn’t play better soon though it’ll be Chance Nolan time for the Beavers.
• Washington took out Caleb Lightbourn on a 4th-and-8 punt. It wasn’t deemed as roughing the kicker though and only warranted a 5-yard penalty flag. Bad call.
• Gebbia only lost one fumble? It seemed like he got stripped sack at least 5 times. To reiterate it was a very bad night for the QB
• Is Oregon State defense improved? I can’t really tell. It was a wet and rainy game in Seattle and Washington still managed 400+ yards. But on the other hand Oregon State limited them to just three 2nd half points and Jaydon Grant scored one of the Beavers touchdowns.
• VERDICT - I think the defense has improved somewhat, but they still have issues stopping the run. Also, something is up with Hamilcar Rashed and the rest of the outside linebackers. I get that the defensive line is not great, but it wasn’t great last year either and those guys still found a way to get in the backfield and force negative plays.
• Champ Flemings was good on special teams. Overall, great special teams night.
• I like Omar Speights and Avery Roberts a lot. Add Jaydon Grant to that list of defensive players that deserve a helmet sticker or something.
• Jermar Jefferson is awesome and it’s a shame that the Beavers can’t balance out the offense with a successful vertical passing attack.
• Jayden de Laura is better than Dylan Morris. It was his first collegiate game in wet and rainy conditions, but he did not impress me.
• The Beavers play Cal next week and it’ll be short week for the Golden Bears. The Pac-12 paired UCLA and Cal together after Utah and ASU couldn’t play due to COVID-19 outbreaks on their team. It’ll be interesting to see how Cal looks in their season debut.
• Oregon State isn’t a bad football team, but it’s frustrating how they’ve played through two weeks. Continuity on offense and defense was supposed to give them an edge in this weird shortened season, but through two weeks they are 0-2 against new coaching staffs with brand new quarterbacks. That’s a tough pill to swallow no matter how you want to spin it.