Oregon State trounces Stanford, 35-14

Your Oregon State Beavers are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2013. It took a little longer than fans were hoping for after the big wins over USC, Washington & Utah but Beaver nation can officially exhale as they will get to enjoy their team playing in a postseason bowl game. Back to the game this afternoon, the Beavers took care of business defeating a Stanford team that is struggling. Oregon State forced three turnovers and held Stanford to less than 100 yards passing (230 yards total). Here’s how the Beavers got their sixth win of the season:

FIRST HALF

With Tanner Mckee unable to go, Stanford started true freshman Ari Patu. The Beavers won the toss, deferred and quickly forced a three-and-out. The Oregon State offense proceeded to go on a run oriented 16 play, 75-yard drive capped off by a Chance Nolan touchdown run that set the tone for the rest of the game. Jack Colletto smashed home a touchdown run just before the half to give the Beavs a two touchdown lead.

SECOND HALF

On the opening drive of the 2nd half Chance Nolan hit Trevon Bradford for a first down, but Bradford shed a few tackles and took it to the house for the biggest play of the night, 21-0 Oregon State.

On the next drive a Kitan Oladapo facemask, a 21-yard QB run from Ari Patu and then a 4th down conversion lead to Stanford’s first touchdown of the night. Not long afterwords Oregon State answered with another long touchdown drive (12 play, 80-yards). The defense helped put the cherry on top when they recovered a fumbled pitch setting the offense up with great field position. Stanford added a touchdown in the final quarter, but Oregon State was able to control the clock and capture their sixth win of the season.

TAKEAWAYS

• B.J. Baylor eclipsed the 1000 yard mark on the season tonight. That is awesome, great job B.J. Baylor and the entire offense this season.
• Chance Nolan was good tonight, completing over 75% of his passes and throwing for over 250 yards. Nolan is at his best when he’s efficient and leaning on the run game.
• While the Beavers did rush for over 200 yards, they weren’t particularly efficient averaging just 4.3 yards per carry (for reference Utah averaged 9.6 YPC last week).
• All-in-all it was a great game. Oregon State took care of business and got over the hump to get bowl-eligible. They’ll need to build on this performance and play even better if they want to knock off Arizona State or Oregon and close the season on a high note.

The Beavers will play their final home game of the season next Saturday on ESPN vs ASU at 7:30 PM.