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With the Oregon State football team (5-7) falling to No. 11 Boise State (11-1) 34-18 on Friday morning, BeaversEdge gives five important takeaways from the win...
1. Oregon State Goes Down Swinging But Didn’t Have Enough To Pull The Upset
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Following a spirited 41-38 win over Washington State that breathed much-needed life back into the Oregon State football team, the Beavers fought ‘till the bitter end in their regular-season finale, a 34-18 defeat at the hands of the No. 11 Boise State Broncos.
While you can’t pinpoint or identify one play that would have made this 16-point game flip in the Beavers’ favor, you can’t deny that they had their chances to put pressure on Boise, and who knows what would have happened from there.
You’ve got to start on the game's opening drive, where the Broncos had a fourth and one they elected to go for on the OSU 25. From the angles I was shown on TV, BSU running back Ashton Jeanty seemed to be a touch short, but upon measurement and a second look, he got the first down by one of the smallest margins of the ball I’ve ever seen.
That could have immediately given the Beavers the ball and momentum with the score standing at 0-0, but the Broncos scored a touchdown four plays later to take a 7-0 advantage.
While that was just one sequence, it ended up being a microcosm of how the game would ultimately go, with the Beavers coming up short but fighting every step of the way.
The Beaver defense had moments against Ashton Jeanty and the Boise State offense, but the Beavers’ inability to get off the field was also a significant part of the game overall. Boise State went 8-of-15 on third downs, so the Beavers did a decent job of forcing them to those situations, but far too many third and longs were converted. The Broncos were also a smooth 2-of-3 on third downs.
Oregon State, meanwhile, took too long for its offense to get into this one, and when it did, it wasn’t as efficient as it needed to be to get back into a contest like this against a talented top-25 squad at home.
The Beavers went 3-of-13 on third downs and 1-of-5 on fourth downs, which tells the story of an offense that was struggling to string drives together. The offense also took some time to get into gear, as the first two drives combined for six yards and the third just 34, all of which ended in punts.
The Beavers broke through on the Anthony Hankerson big-TD run on their fourth drive (more on that in No. 2) and were right back into the contest, but had a massive lapse on defense just before the break (more on that as well) that may have ultimately put the game out of reach.
Back to the offensive inconsistencies: Coming out of the break trailing 21-7, the Beavers went three and out in just three plays and gained just four yards in the process. Getting the ball with decent field position coming out of the break, if you’re going to pull this upset, you must execute there.
Boise was on the field more in this one and made the most of their many more opportunities. They won the time of possession 35 to 25 and ran 24 more plays than the Beavers.
Credit to the Oregon State offense for not going down without a fight, as Ben Gulbranson took care of the ball, going 21-of-37 for 226 yards and a score without a turnover, but the Beavers just weren’t able to get enough going on offense, despite some crafty playcalling at times, against a good Boise defense.
Another one of those oh-so-close plays came with the Beavers trailing by nine early in the fourth quarter… After forcing Boise into a punt on their previous drive, the Beavers had a real chance and time to make Boise sweat a bit.
However, after a long sack on second down put the Beavers behind the chains, they went for it on fourth and 10 with essentially the game on the line. The pass was on time from Gulbranson, but David Wells couldn’t drag a foot down as he made the catch on the sideline. That’s a play receivers are taught constantly, and while the game didn’t come down to that one play, it was a brutal way to see the semi-comeback go down.
Overall, you’ve got to credit this Beaver team for finishing the year, as the fight in this group was measurable… It was such a stark departure from the last time on the road against Air Force or really the last couple of road games, including Cal…
Credit to the coaching staff and leadership on this team… They ended the season fighting to the bitter end and went down swinging against the Broncos.
2. Anthony Hankerson’s TD Run Was Exactly What The Beavers Needed
After the first two drives of the game went for a total of six yards and six plays, resulting in punts, and the third drive went just 34 yards in seven plays and was stricken down by penalties (more on that to come), the Beavers needed something on offense to remain in the game, trailing 14-0.
Anthony Hankerson gave the Beavers more than just something as he provided arguably the most electric home-run-hitting touchdown run of the season as he scampered 83 yards down the sideline, eluding several Boise State defenders and breathing much-needed life into the Beavers efforts now trailing just 14-7 with under two minutes left in the half. The Beavers got the ball to open the second.
For what it’s worth, it was the fifth-longest run in Oregon State history and the longest run by a running back since Ryan Nall’s 89-yard rushing TD in 2016 against Washington State, which pushed Hankerson over the 1,000-yard mark for the season.
As it turned out, the Beavers may have scored too quickly. As soon as they were faced with a one-score advantage, we may have seen the most precise and clutch version of Boise.
They went 75 yards in eight plays, taking up just 1:28. Madsen and the passing attack regularly found holes in the secondary as the Broncos picked their way down the field. They ultimately set up a touchdown pass on third and six with just over 20 seconds remaining.
While it was only one score, it may have been two or three. After Hankerson gave the Beavers a fighting chance, the defense allowed Madsen to conduct a perfect two-minute drill, which was the difference in the ballgame.
Hankerson got the Lions’ share of his yards on that big 83-yard touchdown but finished with 110 yards and a score on 11 carries, and he gets a massive share of the credit for kicking this Beaver offense into gear.
