Jonathan Smith’s Oregon State Beavers couldn’t slow down Arizona State's downhill rushing attack as the Beavers (1-4) allowed the Sun Devils (3-2) to run wild. BeaversEdge.com senior writer Brenden Slaughter breaks down what we learned from the loss.

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Oregon State (1-4) dropped their third straight contest with a 52-24 loss to Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday night. While the Beavers have made meaningful strides under Jonathan Smith in his first season, particularly on offense, the Beaver defense still has a very long road ahead of them if they’re going to be competitive in the Pac-12 Conference. The Beavers allowed a whopping 558 total yards of offense to the Sun Devils, with 396 yards coming on the ground, including 312 yards for ASU running back Eno Benjamin.

With statistics that lopsided, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that building this program, particularly the defense isn’t going to happen overnight. OSU has the right coaches in place, but they need more depth, particularly in the secondary and on the defensive line. While it may be frustrating to see the Beavers be so close to breaking through, it’s important to remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

Somewhat lost in the fray of OSU’s defeat to ASU was the sensationally brilliant performance from true-freshman running back Jermar Jefferson, who proved that he’s going to be known as one of the Pac-12’s elite running backs with a 256 yard and two touchdown performance against the Sun Devils.

Jefferson, who burst onto the scene in relief of the injured Artavis Pierce against Southern Utah, continued to show that he can be the bell cow running back the Beavers need as he toted the rock 31 times and physical punished the ASU defense. While OSU as a whole isn’t where they want to be as a team, there’s no doubt that Jefferson might be considered one of the best running backs in school history if he continues on the torrid pace he’s on through five games.

Despite the Beavers hanging tough with Arizona State until the fourth quarter, a slow start may have been the Beavers’ downfall once again. With 7:49 left in the second quarter, the Beavers found themselves staring at 24-3 hole and once again they were forced to play from behind. Against Nevada, Arizona, and now Arizona State, Oregon State didn’t start with the intensity needed to win the game, and ultimately it costed them. Whether it was falling down to Nevada 30-7 at halftime or 24-3 early in the second against Arizona State, something about the Beavers just isn’t clicking when the game starts. Postgame, Jonathan Smith said that he really couldn’t pinpoint why the Beavers have started slow the last few weeks, noting that the team just has to continue to buy in and come prepared and ready to roll every Saturday.

Another week, and another case of poor tackling for the Oregon State defense. This seems to be a bit of a broken record for the Beavers in the last two seasons as poor technique, bad fundamentals, and poor arm tackling, once again plagued the defense.

Whether it was missing tackles at the line of scrimmage, taking poor routes to the ball carrier, or simply not making the tackle on first contact, OSU showed once again on Saturday that they have a long ways to go in terms of being a competitive defense week in and week out. Luckily for the Beavers, they still have seven games left this season to right the ship and I don’t doubt that Smith and Co. will have this defense playing better by the end of the season, but sometimes it’s very hard to break bad habits, and we’re all seeing very clearly now, that the previous regime set the Beavers back quite a ways.

Smith noted in his postgame press conference that wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins, who had one catch for 44 yards before leaving the contest with a hamstring injury is questionable moving forward. Smith noted that he didn’t have an update from the training staff before speaking to us and that he only knew it was a hamstring injury. Based on watching Hodgins leave the field post game in sweats and Smith’s tone, I don’t imagine that Hodgins’ injury is too serious, but time will tell when we talk to Smith on Monday. Given how quickly Hodgins went to the ground and how awkward it looked live, it’s probably a best case scenario for the OSU offense that it wasn’t something more serious.