The Beavers (1-5, 0-3) showed signs of promise against the Cougars (5-1, 2-1) in Reser Stadium, but couldn’t get the defensive stops needed to pull the upset bid. BeaversEdge.com senior writer Brenden Slaughter recaps the most important takeaways from the game as OSU is now on a bye week before an October 20th matchup with Cal.
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1. Conor Blount is growing before our eyes
While the Beavers came out on the losing end for the fourth straight contest, one of the bright spots of the game was the play of quarterback Conor Blount.
Blount, who was thrust into the starting quarterback job once Jake Luton suffered a high-ankle sprain against Nevada, has struggled to be consistent on the field, but he showed a lot of promise against the Cougars on Saturday night.
Blount finished 15-of-21 for 172 yards and no touchdowns in a very ‘game manager’ type performance where he executed the offense and didn’t commit turnovers. The Beavers also took several deep shots in this game and proved that they can give Blount the time to throw deep, and that he can when given the time.
There’s no doubt that Luton and Blount playing together is the Beavers’ best chance for offensive success, but kudos to Blount for showing a lot of toughness and grit and continuing to fight for his teammates. He wasn’t the best quarterback on the field today, but he’s grown leaps and bounds from where he was at the start of the season and his development in the last six games of the season is going to be exciting to watch.
2. Beaver offense continues to roll
For the second straight week, OSU’s offense wasn’t the problem as the Beavers racked up 37 points and 498 total yards of offense. Behind a game-manager type performance from Blount, who was steady running the offense, and another veteran like game from Jermar Jefferson (25 carries, 139 yards, four touchdowns) the Beavers nearly sprung a trap and upset the Cougars in Corvallis.
However, an untimely 3 and out and a fumble by Jefferson in the fourth quarter on back-to-back possessions sealed the win for the Cougars as the Beavers weren’t able to get the stops on defense needed to stay in the game.
One of the bright spots of the Beaver offense was their desire to stretch the field vertically and creative with offensive and special teams play calling. Whether it was designed reverses or selling the play action to take a shot deep, offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren did a much better job of opening up the field by mixing up play calling and keeping Mike Leach on his toes.
