Despite trailing 31-10 with five minutes and change remaining in the third quarter, the Oregon State Beavers called four straight running plays. This sequence helped OSU score for its first time after the half and brought the score to 31-17.
The Beavers found success quickly on their feet and the Ducks defense was unable to stop them. Oregon State went on to score three more rushing touchdowns before the end of the game, leading to a 31-17 victory Saturday.
The Beavers barely won the game, but they shouldn’t have been in a place to do so. The Ducks gave away the game with a combination of an inability to stop Oregon State’s ground attack and to convert on fourth down. In the end, it cost the Ducks a possible Pac-12 championship berth as well as a stinging loss to the in-state rivals. The Ducks have made a trip to the conference championship game for the last three seasons and would have been the first team to ever appear in four straight.
After the two teams’ opening drives, the game was looking like it was going to be played back and forth. The first four scoring plays followed this pattern and Oregon went into the half with a four point lead.
Receiver Chase Cota returned from injury to play one of his best games. In the Ducks’ opening drive, he caught a 44 yard pass from quarterback Bo Nix in the end zone after jumping up with the Beavers defender, and he came away with possession.
“It felt like a watermelon up in the sky. Real big last second. It felt good to come down with it,” Cota said.
This play started the Ducks off on a strong foot and gave them the lead over the Beavers in their first possession. Cota went on to have an impressive showing leading the Ducks offense in receiving yards with 136. He made multiple other impactful catches, picking up first downs when they were desperately needed.
The Ducks really struggled on third and fourth downs. They went 0-for-5 on fourth downs and 5-for-14 on third down. There were many opportunities that could have been created from collecting first downs in those situations but they fell short.
The Oregon offense has been making some aggressive and at times questionable play calls for the majority of the season. Sometimes, it has paid off but this game was not one of them.
After the Beavers gained the lead, the Ducks found themselves at the Beavers two yard line and then had a one yard loss in the final minutes of the game. On fourth down, Nix threw an incomplete pass to Troy Franklin leaving them scoreless on another drive.
“We have been aggressive in our nature for a majority of the year and it has worked for us,” head coach Dan Lanning said.
Oregon suffered from untimely penalties that put the Beavers in good field position to capitalize quickly.
A monumental play for the Beavers came when the Ducks defense allowed OSU receiver Silas Bolden to pick up 48 yards off the kickoff return. A facemask penalty brought the Beavers even closer and Isaiah Newell made this a 10 point game after a 15 yard run.
Oregon State came back into the game when it decided to stop throwing the ball and strictly running. And the Oregon defense could not stop it.
“We had poor gap control at times. If you go back and look at it I think you are going to see a team that was more physical at the point of attack than we were,” Lanning said.
The Ducks then had three unsuccessful drives forcing them to punt. This resulted in a touchdown two plays later and the game was only one score away from a lead change.
This loss comes at a time when the Ducks had hoped to play in the Pac-12 championship game next week. After the mistakes of this game, the future of the season lies in the hands of other teams, a place where none of the players or coaches wanted to be.
“Everyone’s a little down and mad and I can’t fault anyone for showing whatever emotions they do. I think no matter what the game is we’re leaving here mad and there’s a chip on our shoulder,” Cota said. “So whoever we are going to play next is hopefully going to feel that energy.”
