Oregon State throttles Arizona State, 31-7

Oregon State football cruised to a 31-7 victory Saturday in Sun Devil Stadium. Despite missing a bunch of crucial players to injury like: Jack Colletto, Anthony Gould, Jaydon Grant, Alex Austin, Deshaun Fenwick and Tyler Morano. It was of no consequence as Damien Martinez topped 100+ rushing yards for the 5th straight time (first OSU RB to do so since Steven Jackson in 2003). Ben Gulbranson was sharp and even showed off some decent mobility. Overall it was a textbook Oregon State victory from start to finish.

Here’s how it all went down:

FIRST HALF

Trenton Bourguet got the start at QB for Arizona State. The Sun Devils offense looked dangerous at times, especially Xazavian Valladay who rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown. Oregon State’s defense buckled down when they needed too though, including a three-and-out on the opening possession. Gulbranson engineered a 9-play, 78-yard touchdown drive on the Beavs first possession. ASU tied the game late in the 2nd quarter thanks to a couple nice Valladay runs. Oregon State needed just 53 seconds to march 75 yards for a Jack Velling touchdown before the end of the first half though, 14-7 Oregon State.

SECOND HALF

While it looked like a competitive game in the first half, the final 30 minutes were one-sided in Oregon State’s favor. Back-to-back touchdowns sandwiched between an Arizona State turnover on downs pushed the game out of reach, 28-7 Beavs. Oregon State was quite conservative after their 4th touchdown drive as a majority of their 42 rushing attempts came in the second half. Luke Loecher crushed a punt over ASU’s punt returners head that he muffed giving Oregon State amazing field position. Oregon State couldn’t punch in their 5th touchdown of the game, but did get a field goal out of it. Tristan Gebbia got in the game late as Oregon State continued to milk the clock. He kept the drive alive on a nice 4th down pass to Jeremiah Noga for 21 yards. The Beavers will now return to Corvallis and shift their focus to the big rivalry game next weekend.

The Pros:

• Winning is great! Awesome performance all around.
• Damien Martinez topping 100 yards for the 5th straight game! Can he match Steven Jackson’s 6-game streak next weekend?
• Valuable experience for the guys starting for injured players.
• Arizona State scored just 7 points, despite rushing for 154 yards.
• Jack Velling is really growing into his receiving role since replacing Luke Musgrave.
• Zero turnovers and just 3 penalties. Very clean game!

The Cons:

• Injuries suck. Hope Malik Kelley is okay!
• Xazavian Valladay had more success than the coaching staff would have liked.
• Tristian Gebbia should have played the entire 4th quarter in my opinion.
• Not MUCH! 8-3 is a fantastic record, can they beat Oregon next weekend?!