Entering Saturday’s matchup in Autzen, the Oregon State Beavers planned to do exactly what Utah did to the injured Ducks in Salt Lake City the week prior: play smash-mouth football and run all over them.
Seeking a response to the Ducks’ nine-play, 75-yard, game-opening touchdown drive in the first quarter, the Beavers turned to running back B.J. Baylor to convert on third-and-5.
Baylor took the handoff from quarterback Chance Nolan, cutting towards a gap of green to his left. Out of nowhere, Oregon defensive end Brandon Dorlus came to crash the party, grabbing Baylor two yards behind the line of scrimmage, spinning him around and throwing him on his back to force a punt.
No. 11 Oregon defeated Oregon State 38-29 on Saturday in Autzen, and its run defense made a statement in the process.
“We had a good game,” Dorlus said. “We showed up, we helped the defense and we did what we had to do to be successful.”
In the Ducks’ Week 11 loss at Utah, the defense struggled to contain the Utes’ fast-paced running game, which posted a whopping 208 rushing yards en route to a blowout win. With a rivalry matchup against Pac-12 rushing leader Oregon State looming large, many braced themselves for a similar outcome.
“It was a rough plane ride back last week,” Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal said. “When you go through something like that, you have to look in the mirror and you have to dig deep and regroup quickly.”
That they did.
Much to the chagrin of Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith, the Beavers finished the day with 85 yards on the ground, far below their 2021 gamely average of 242.8 yards per game.
“You had to stop the run; they’d been running through people relentlessly,” Cristobal said. “When they get it going they’re hard to stop.”
Saturday marked the Beavers’ lowest rushing yard total in over two years of conference play.
Baylor saw his 109-yard per-game average sliced in half on Saturday, finishing with 59 yards, while second string back Trey Lowe mustered only 20.
The Beavers’ inability to run the ball made for a level of discomfort that they were unable to overcome throughout Saturday’s matchup, despite an overperforming passing game from Nolan and company.
Without the running game, the Beavers had to reinvent themselves.
“[The Beavers] had to play out of character to a certain extent,” Cristobal said. “They were good at it; they threw the ball all over the yard today, certainly. But I think that combination led to us getting in a position where we could control the game.”
All parties were involved for the Oregon defense. As the game wore on, the linebackers and the front seven cycled through the depth chart. Among them was Oregon native and senior Nate Heaukulani.
“We went with more backers on the field just to help out with the run because we got gashed pretty good last week,” Heaukulani said. “It was really just to stop the run, which I felt like we did a pretty good job of today because that’s a very good running game in Oregon State.”
Kayvon Thibodeaux, Noah Sewell and Verone McKinley added five tackles apiece to the team total of 46. McKinley, Dorlus and Thibodeaux all tallied a tackle for loss, as well.
The Oregon run defense played to its most physical, downhill and disciplined iteration on Saturday, and it paid off as the Ducks suffocated a nationally recognized and highly touted Beavers run game.
“Autzen, they call it ‘The Zoo,’” McKinley said. “It’s hard to leave ‘The Zoo’ without any scratches.”
