5 Takeaways From Oregon State's Win Against Hawaii

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With the Oregon State football team (1-1) earning its first win of the season against Hawaii at Reser Stadium on Saturday night, BeaversEdge.com gives five important takeaways from the win.

MORE: WATCH: Beavers Talk Win Over Hawaii | Highlights + Social Media Reaction

1. Chance Nolan Is The Answer At Quarterback

-> If there was any debate for who Oregon State's starting quarterback should be heading into the Hawaii game, Chance Nolan put that conversation to bed with a stellarly efficient performance against the Warriors.

The 6-foot-3, 203-pounder's status as the starting quarterback was kept hidden all the way until about 30 minutes before kickoff, but he delivered a show once he took his first snap under center.

Nolan looked like he picked up right where he left off against Purdue, helping push the Oregon State offense down the field with ease. He started the contest by going 13-of-13 before throwing his first incompletion and finished the contest with a very healthy line of 21-for-29 (72%) for 302 yards and two touchdowns. He also had an overall QB rating of 182.6.

Given that Oregon State's offense has largely hummed right along when Nolan has been under center during the first two weeks, it's certainly his job to lose moving forward and that's a huge sigh of relief for consistency at the position.

If Nolan can have another solid performance against Idaho next week and build up some more confidence within the offense heading into the Pac-12 opener on the road at USC in two weeks, Oregon State's offense will be in great shape.

2. B.J. Baylor Was A Man On A Mission

-> Outside of Nolan, there arguably wasn't a more impressive player for Oregon State against the Warriors than running back B.J. Baylor. Outside of the fumble he had midway through the third quarter, Baylor was flawless in leading the ground attack as he took 18 carries for 171 yards and three touchdowns.

Baylor had two monster touchdown runs, the first coming in the first quarter where he broke free for a 66-yard scamper to put the Beavers up 14, while his second came in the third quarter from 30 yards out to extend the advantage to 31-7.

While a lot of the chatter from spring and fall camp had Deshaun Fenwick as the guy to take over the backfield this season, it's largely been Baylor who's been called upon and has delivered in the first two weeks. He's got 195 yards and five touchdowns through two weeks, doing his best to secure the lead gig in the backfield.

I do expect Fenwick and Trey Lowe to continue to be in the mix, but after a couple of solid performances the first two weeks, I'd say Baylor has done more than enough to continue to be the first guy in the backfield.

3. Defense Still A Work In Progress

-> When the Beavers were up on Hawaii 31-7 with 14:46 left in the second half, all indications were that the defense was well on its way toward a solid performance as up until that point, they'd only allowed 179 total yards of offense.

However, the defensive production slipped from thereon and allowed Hawaii to really get back into the contest.

The Beavers struggled to contain UH QB Chevan Cordeiro as he helped lead a second-half rally that included 20 points and 275 yards of total offense.

While the claim could be made that the Beavers had eased off the pedal, Hawaii didn't quit in this contest as they brought the contest within two scores on several occasions late.

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