After OSU’s third practice in Bend, the million dollar question was finally answered by head coach Gary Andersen.

Jake Luton will be the starting quarterback against Colorado State. The former Idaho Vandal and Ventura C.C. quarterback seized the job over Marcus McMaryion and Darell Garretson.

Below are the five reasons why we believe that making Luton the No. 1 guy is the right choice for OSU.

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This is really a no-brainer but it goes a long way in terms of telling the story as to why Luton had the inside track to being the starter all along. Andersen has liked Luton since he offered him a scholarship mid-season last year, and I would bet that Andersen wanted him to come in and win the job outright. Granted, after he offered Luton, Marcus McMaryion went on to win the last two games of the season, but outside of McMaryion's stellar Arizona game, he left more to be desired. When Andersen offered Luton, he was envisioning a much stronger passing game, and that is what you get with Luton.

“Jake will start and will be the number one quarterback,” Andersen said. “He became much more consistent and frankly had an opportunity to compete which was hard for him in the spring with his health situation. He threw the ball very very well. We are protecting him well right now and that’s a good thing to see.”

Two years ago, this wouldn’t have necessarily been true, but it certainly is today. When Andersen first arrived at OSU, he noted that a quarterback needs to beat you with his arm, mind, and legs. While that is still true, he has tweaked his philosophy since that introductory press conference.

After two years of subpar passing at the hands of two different offensive coordinators in Dave Baldwin and Kevin McGiven, Andersen brought in Jason Phillips as the “passing game” coordinator. Philips is a disciple of the Run ‘N’ Shoot and Air Raid offenses that rely on a big armed quarterback who can throw the ball downfield. No disrespect to Garretson or McMaryion, but for this system Luton is the best option given his massive 6’7 frame and cannon arm.

McMaryion is probably the best backup QB in the Pac-12 in my opinion and very well could get his chance this season if Luton struggles. However, given the new direction of the offense, Luton’s skillset fits it the best without a doubt.

Let’s not sugarcoat it folks, the Beavers haven’t had a halfway decent passing game or receivers that have put up numbers since Mike Riley departed. Some of that is that the Beavers haven’t had a steady QB to build chemistry with receivers in Andersen’s tenure and some of it falls on the receivers.

Other than Victor Bolden, who was a model of consistency in his four years in Corvallis, no other Beaver receiver could get the ball routinely. Last season was one to forget for Jordan Villamin who should be making plays that leave Pac-12 cornerbacks looking silly. He has all of the ability to be an elite level WR in the Pac-12 and has the moves to make torch defensive backs.

However, since Sean Mannion graduated, we haven’t seen the big playmaking that we saw early in Villamin's career. Now that OSU has a quarterback with a throwing pedigree who likes to throw deep (like Mannion), a receiver like Villamin should have a huge season.

Andersen said back in spring that the Beavers needed a huge senior year out of Jordan Villamin to be a good football team, and now with a quarterback like Luton, the table is set for the return of the Jordan Villamin that could take the top off a defense.

Last season, the Beavers averaged a school record in yards per carry, and that was when they ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in passing yards per game. Towards the end of last season, opponents loaded the box and dared OSU to throw.

Often times, Ryan Nall just ran through the defense that were stacked in the box. The problem is, in college football, you have to have a somewhat balanced offense to be successful.

Take Mike Leach and the WSU Cougars for example. Leach is one of the main architects of the Air Raid offense but ran for the most yards in his tenure at WSU last season, which happened to be one of the best for the Cougars since he arrived.

The same goes for OSU. Andersen wants to be a run-first system where he establishes a tough, hard nosed running game, and then can open it up with play-action. In his last year at Wisconsin, Andersen ran the ball 66% of the time. Last season at OSU, he ran it over 53% of the time.

What I’m getting at is, now that the Beavers have a quarterback that has the threat of going deep often, defenses will now have to respect both aspects of OSU’s offense, which is going to make them a much better and more complete team in 2017.

While most OSU fans are enamoured with the Jake Luton-Sean Mannion comparison, there is one caveat that separates those two apart.

The ability to run.

Sean Mannion and Jake Luton are nearly the same size at 6’5 and 6’7 respectively, but Luton is a much more accomplished runner. He ran for 175 yards and six touchdowns while running an up-tempo Run N’ Shoot type offense that saw him break several Ventura CC records. Given his ability to keep the ball on the zone-read, the Beavers might just have one of the most complete offenses in the Pac-12.

They have talented receivers, dynamic running backs, a steady offensive line, and a quarterback who can run when necessary. He might not run nearly as much as Seth Collins did in 2015, or like Garretson or McMaryion in 2016, but the threat is there, which makes an offense very hard to gameplan around.