Late Game Meltdown Dashes Oregon State's Upset Hopes In 27-24 Loss To Houston
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As Oregon State continues to fight for their first victory of the 2025 season, a crushing Week 5 defeat to the Houston Cougars adds to the team's nightmare season. Up by two scores in the second half, a late comeback by the Cougars and a meltdown in all three facets of the game by the Beavers kept Oregon State winless and Houston unbeaten.
Here's everything important that happened in the back-and-forth contest that ended in a 27-24 Houston win.
Special Teams Disasters The Difference
Eerily similar to the fate of the Los Angeles Rams in their shocking Week 3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, two blocked kicks haunted the Beavers' attempts at an upset in a massive way. A 49-yard attempt by starter Caleb Ojada at the end of the first half and a game-winning 46-yard try by sophomore Cameron Smith were both rejected, with said six points being the turning point in the game.
The Beavers' inexperienced special teams unit hasn't been tested quite often through the first handful of games to begin their 2025 campaign, and they failed their first major test badly. Despite the plethora of issues that plagued the team in the second half of the game, two kicks could have secured Oregon State a much-needed victory, and instead, they fell to 0-5 with a season that's seemingly already lost.
MORE: From Texas A&M to Houston: Conner Weigman Presents Another Big QB Test for Oregon State
Conservative Offensive Gameplan Proved Costly
Starting quarterback Maalik Murphy's playmaking ability has been heavily overshadowed by his unfortunate turnover problem, throwing five interceptions through the team's first four games. The Beavers' coaching staff clearly tried something different on Friday night, with a noticeably more conservative scheme for the junior signal caller. While it succeeded in preventing any giveaways, the short game-based offense took away much of Murphy's exciting skills and stifled multiple chances to put the contest out of reach.
He threw for 201 yards on 20/33 completions with one score, a five-yard pass to running back Marquis Crosby in the second quarter, averaging out to just 6.1 yards per attempt through the air. The game plan shift helped propel the Beavers to an early lead that they held throughout most of the game, but they struggled to generate chunk plays when the game got tight.
Three drives of five or fewer plays that resulted in a punt in the fourth quarter, and two failed rushing attempts in overtime that resulted in a crucial turnover on downs were the main failures of the game plan. Those backbreaking moments leave the door open to ponder how the outcome would have changed if Murphy's playmaking skills were allowed to be displayed.
Defense Couldn't Hold Down Weigman
Houston starting QB Conner Weigman has looked the part of his once five-star recruit status in the early stages of the season, but the Oregon State defense looked to have had him figured out for most of the game. The Cougars' offense was forced to punt seven total times, including picking off an errant pass in the second quarter.
When it mattered, however, Weigman had the Beavers' number. Two surgical touchdown drives in the fourth quarter erased a 14-point deficit in a matter of minutes, and the Oregon State offense couldn't keep up. The final nail in the coffin was their lone offensive drive in overtime, allowing Weigman to effortlessly drive inside the five-yard line to set up a chip-shot field goal to secure the victory for the Cougars.
More Reading Material From Oregon State Beavers on SI
Ian Harper is a student journalist and broadcaster studying at Rowan University. He is also the founder of Poolesville Sports Web with previous bylines covering college football, Major League Baseball, the NFL, and NFL Draft for Athlon Sports and Last Word On Sports.