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With the Oregon State football team (7-3, 4-3 Pac-12) defeating California 38-10 on Saturday night at Reser Stadium, BeaversEdge gives 10 important takeaways from the win!
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1. Defense Puts The Clamps On Cal
Oregon State's defense rose to the occasion against California on Saturday evening as the Beavers bounced back after a tough game against the Washington Huskies to have arguably their best defensive performance of the season.
The defense surrendered just three points to the Bears (fumble recovery for a score was Cal's lone touchdown) and had another dominant performance on that side of the ball.
Cal's 160 total yards were the fewest an Oregon State team had given up since the 2009 season when OSU allowed just 192 yards to Washington State.
Additionally, the Beavers held Cal to nine rushing yards, the fewest from an Oregon State group since 2007 when that squad held Stanford to negative eight yards rushing. For perspective, that 2007 OSU team featured the top-ranked run defense in the country when the season was all said and done...
Cal's offense wasn't lights out this season, but the Bears had found some life late against USC last week, so the Beavers needed to be ready to go to avoid any sort of Golden Bear offensive resurgence.
The Beavers did just that and more in this one as they proved once again that the defense is the backbone of this football team and capable of putting together historical performances.
2. Offense Capitalizes With Early Touchdowns
After leaving some points on the field against Washington a week ago, Oregon State made sure to turn those opportunities into touchdowns against the Bears early...
The Beavers scored touchdowns the first two times they touched the ball on offense after deferring the opening kickoff to Cal, and for good measure, added an Anthony Gould punt return for a touchdown that gave them a 21-0 lead that proved to be insurmountable for the Bears.
The first touchdown drive set the tone for the matchup as the Beavers went 65 yards in 10 plays finished by Ben Gulbranson sneaking across the goal line on fourth and one from inside the one-yard line. That sneak stands out as it was less than a yard to go and the Beavers elected to go for it, converting this time compared to coming up short a week ago.
That drive also showcased one of the most impactful singular plays in the contest as the Beavers lined up for a fourth and two from the Cal 47 and had Jack Colletto fake an inside rush and then throw deep to Gould who made a spectacular diving catch to set up the first touchdown.
The second came via Jam Griffin to cap off a six-play, 31-yard drive that was set up by the Kyrei Fisher-Morris interception that gave the Beavers great field position. OSU took full advantage by gaining seven as opposed to three or zero and established control by going up 14-0...
The offense went a bit cold following the Gould touchdown as the offense didn't get back on the scoreboard until an Everett Hayes 49-yard field goal on the offense's opening drive of the third quarter.
From there the Beavers officially put the hammer down as they added two more long touchdown drives of 70 and 65 yards to put the game on ice...
The fourth-quarter touchdowns put this game well out of reach, it was the early efficiency of the offense securing touchdowns and building up a big lead that never allowed Cal to have the hope of pulling an upset.
Against teams like Cal that are playing nothing but spoilers, you have to take hope out of the equation early and the Beavers racking up 21 points in a hurry certainly did just that...
3. Anthony Gould Showcases Punt Return Prowess
With Oregon State already up 14-0 and looking to add more, the Golden Bears made the mistake of giving one of the Pac-12 most dangerous return men a chance to do something special.
It was a mistake Cal will come to regret as they gave Gould a perfectly placed punt, giving him the room he needed to make the first man miss and cut to the left side upfield. From there, Gould needed to cut back infield, and then back towards the sideline again, igniting the Reser Stadium crowd as he put the Beavers up 20-0 early in the second...
In a bigger picture sense, Gould's two punt return touchdowns (vs Montana State & Cal) are the most from an OSU returner since Sammie Stroughter had three punt return touchdowns in the 2006 campaign.
Between Silas Bolden (kickoffs) and Gould (punts), the Beavers have two real special teams' weapons who have a ton of speed, and tonight we saw the impact of how momentum-changing a punt return can be...
The play was well-blocked, and well-executed, and will go down as arguably the tipping point in the contest as the Beavers never looked back sporting a 21-0 advantage...
