5 Takeaways From Oregon State's 27-21 Loss To Washington

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With the Oregon State football team (0-2) dropping a 27-21 heartbreaker to Washington (1-0) in Seattle, BeaversEdge.com gives you five important takeaways from the loss...

MORE: WATCH: Smith, Jefferson, & Hodgins Break Down Loss | Recap: Beavers fall to Huskies

Let's run this sequence back one more time.

It's first and ten for Oregon State at the Washington 14.

Jermar Jefferson runs for six yards.

Second and four from the Washington eight.

Jefferson runs for three yards.

End of the third quarter.

Third and one from the Washington five.

Jefferson appears to reach the line to gain but is ruled short.

Fourth and one from the Washington five.

Jefferson takes the carry and once again, reaches what looks like the amount to gain so much so that the announcers Alex Faust & Petros Papadakis easily say it's an Oregon State first down.

But in the blink of an eye, everything changed. Despite the fact that it was almost obvious to those watching on the FS1 feed that Jefferson had reached the line to gain, both times the officials marked him just short. There were even several reviews of the plays, and the chains coming out, but apparently, nothing was seen by the refs to change the initial spots.

"I definetly thought I had it the first time when it was third and (one)," Jefferson said. "But they said we didn't, and we felt we did. They didn't tell us anything, they just ran the chains out and said we didn't get it."

There's far more to a football game than any one sequence, and head coach Jonathan Smith said as much postgame as he noted that he didn't believe it was a game-ender as there was an entire quarter to play.

"I was told the plays were getting reviewed," Smith said. "After the third-down measurement, I asked if it was getting looked at and they said it was. I didn't want to waste a timeout on a challenge when they kept saying they thoroughly looked at it. Then they reviewed the fourth-down call."

He's correct in the fact that the Beavers had two drives after the fact, but in reality, this was a sequence that would have effectively turned the tide in Oregon State's favor given the momentum. A touchdown on that drive (OSU was on the UW 5) would have put the Beavers up 28-24 and could have really changed the entire dynamic of the fourth quarter.

"From my angle on the third down, I thought we got it," Smith said. "But, it was the beginning of the fourth quarter and we had to respond from there. Our defense got an awesome stop late and gave the ball back to the offense with under two minutes and a chance to win. You got to reload and respond."

This particular sequence will sting Beaver coaches, players, and fans for a long time and there's no question the Pac-12 conference will need to offer some clarity on what the process was in the coming days.

While the end result and the reasons why it became a Husky victory may keep Oregon State fans frustrated, there is an overarching positive to take away from this game, and it's that measurable progress continues to be made.

Close losses that arguably should have been won are the toughest to swallow and there's no question that the Beavers feel like they let one slip away.

"I thought it was gritty, not perfect by any means," Smith said. "We've got a lot of things to clean up, but I appreciate the heart, toughness, and competitiveness our guys played with battling tonight. We didn't play well enough to win, but I know we competed until the end and gave ourselves several chances to win."

But it's important to think about this game in context.

If before the season I told you that the Beavers would cover the spread and lose to Washington by six in Seattle, most would have probably considered that a victory in terms of where the program was headed.

"We've got to continue to grow and improve," Smith said. "We've got a lot of good players on this team and we've got an opportunity to win a lot of games. Obviously we have to get our first one and the only way to get there is to improve."

Despite their lack of ranking, the Huskies have been a much better program than the Beavers for some time and boast far superior talent, yet here the Beavers were hanging with them right until the final drive. It wasn't that long ago that the Huskies were able to have the Beavers finished off by halftime, so in that respect, the progress is definetly there.

"Our energy is still up there," an encouraged Jefferson said. "We still got multiple games and we're still good."