Washington State Drop 10-7 Shocker To Oregon State in Corvallis

In the first of two games this season between the two Pac-12 sides, the Oregon State Beavers emerged victorious against the Washington State Cougars in a low-scoring 10-7 affair.

It's difficult to point to one single thing that doomed the Cougars, but an overall lack of execution could be seen throughout. WSU were penalized ten times on Saturday for a total of 90 yards. Despite three total trips to the red zone, Washington State came away with points on just one of them. Zevi Eckhaus was also sacked six times by the Beavers' pass rush.

An overall defensive battle yielded just three total third down conversions between the two sides out of 24 attempts.

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In the first half, neither offense set the world on fire. Instead, it was the defenses that made things interesting. It took until late in the second quarter before any points were scored.

Oregon State picked off Eckhaus twice in the opening two frames (both times by Jaheim Patterson) and eventually turned the second one into a 35-yard field goal by Caleb Ojeda. Fortunately for the Cougs, they answered with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, which ended when Kirby Vorhees took a direct snap three yards into the end zone with 44 seconds left.

WSU converted two of their five third downs in the first half, while the Beavers were one-for-six in that category.

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In the third quarter, the Cougar offense struggled to get moving, with four three-and-outs. Oregon State's offense also struggled again, until the 9:52 mark of the fourth quarter. Anthony Hankerson broke off a 37-yard rush down to the two-yard line and managed to score a touchdown and take the lead two plays later.

Inside of four minutes remaining, Tony Freeman returned an Oregon State punt 47 yards past midfield to the OSU 43. The Cougar offense handed the ball off a few times to get to the OSU 15, where Jack Stevens missed a 32-yard field goal attempt with 1:05 left on the clock. Hankerson picked up a first down to allow Oregon State to run the remaining time off of the clock.

The Cougars have their second bye of the season next week and will next take the field on November 15 when they host the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.

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