5 Takeaways From Oregon State's 30-24 Loss To Utah

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With the Oregon State football team (2-3) dropping a 30-24 decision to the Utah Utes (1-2) in Salt Lake City, BeaversEdge.com gives five important takeaways from the loss.

MORE: WATCH: Smith, Roberts, Nolan Break Down Utah Loss | Recap: Beavers fall to Utes 30-24

When it was learned earlier in the week that backup quarterback Chance Nolan would be getting his first career start against Utah, you knew that he and the Oregon State offense would have their work cut out for them as the Utes once again boasted a strong defensive unit.

As it turned out, Nolan and the offense had their work cut out for them and then some.

Down the top two running backs on the roster and leading the offense, Nolan did what he could against the Utes, going 20-for-38 for 202 yards and one touchdown while also adding 36 yards on the ground. Nolan also threw one interception, coming on his first pass attempt of the contest.

"For a first start against this defense, I knew this would be a good challenge for him," head coach Jonathan Smith said of Nolan. "He continued to get into the flow of the game, but he's got to be more accurate. But, he played well enough to keep us in the game late and he'll learn a lot from this."

In the grand scheme of things, neither Nolan nor the offense ever functioned at a particularly high level. Sure, the Beavers had their moments, and opportunities to win the game were definitely there, but the execution, most notably on offense, wasn't nearly good enough to beat a good Utah team on the road.

With starting quarterback Tristan Gebbia's status still in doubt for next week's matchup against Stanford, there's a good chance we could see Nolan once again.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound sophomore didn't have the debut he was hoping for, but he's optimistic that there's a lot he can take away from this game and even admitted that he was a little nervous.

"I left a lot out there," Nolan said. "The defense did a lot of different stuff, so there's a lot to learn from. I was a little nervous and leading my receivers a bit too far early, but I started to settle in a lot better in the second half. There's a lot for us to clean up and I can be a lot better."

Next, next, next man up approach?

That was the order of the day for Oregon State's backfield rotation as the Beavers were down to their third-string running back in quick order against the highly-touted Ute defense.

While Smith said postgame that the team knew Tuesday night that the Pac-12's leading rusher Jermar Jefferson would be out against the Utes, that information didn't publicly leak out until early Saturday. Then, the backfield was even more decimated when backup BJ Baylor was knocked out of the contest early in the first half with a shoulder injury.

That meant that for the most part, it was the Calvin Tyler Jr. show for the OSU ground game against the Utes. The 5-foot-8, 215-pound redshirt junior, who hadn't taken a snap from the backfield this season, did what he could against the Utes' top-ranked rush defense, taking 12 carries for 29 yards and two scores.

Ultimately, it was linebacker/quarterback Jack Colletto who led the team in rushing thanks to his 40-yard scamper and that illustrates just how non-existent the all-mighty OSU ground attack was against the Utes.

With the Beavers not having much of a rushing threat, Utah was able to put pressure on Nolan while also mixing up coverages to keep the first-time starter off-balance and nearly mitigate the offensive effectiveness.

Offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren and Smith have emphasized the importance of balance in their scheme to open everything up and not having that reliable ground-attack led by Jefferson and even Baylor to an extent really hurt the Beavers' chances to put a dent into Utah's front-seven.

We'll have to see how the COVID-19 contact-tracing protocols shake out as far as Jefferson's timeline for return goes, and Baylor's status with his shoulder is also very much in question moving forward as well. Smith didn't know the status of either going forward, so it very much could be Tyler Jr.'s show against the Cardinal next week.

To say that Oregon State had and miss their opportunities to win this game would be an understatement.

Whether it was Teagan Quitoriano dropping a would-be touchdown, Nahshon Wright dropping an interception, Hamilcar Rashed Jr. dropping an interception, numerous missed sacks, negative nine yards on the offensive drive following the ultra-rare onside kick recovery, Nolan not electing to keep the ball on a designed RPO on a fourth and one trailing by six late in the fourth, or numerous other plays, OSU missed a ton of plays.

"That's a physical football team that we didn't execute well-enough against consistently to be able to win the game," Smith said. "I respect our effort, but we've got to execute better to be able to win games."

While Utah didn't play perfectly by any means, the Beavers just didn't make the plays when it mattered at that's why they're saddled with another painful loss.

Defensively, the Beavers weren't able to force any turnovers and there were a few, most notably the two potential interceptions that were ripe for the taking. On the flip side, Nolan couldn't consistently settle into a rhythm and the Beavers were forced to play from behind, never an easy task for a first-time starter, let alone an offense missing its biggest weapon in Jefferson.

This will definitely be a game that the Beavers look back on during the film session and realize that they missed far too many plays to win this game and will likely be kicking themselves for it. It's all part of the growing process for a rebuilding team, but this wasn't the expectation for this group following the Oregon win.