5 Takeaways From Oregon State's Win Over Stanford

For the past several weeks the theme had emerged that the Beavers were yet to put together a complete game on both sides of the ball.

The Beavers had strong offensive and defensive games individually but didn't have it all come together perfectly until this matchup with the Cardinal.

Starting on offense, Oregon State hung 62 points on the Cardinal, the most scored against a Pac-12 foe since 2012 when the Beavers scored 62 on the Cal Bears. After leaving some points on the board against Colorado a week ago, the Beavers were determined to be better offensively and leave no doubt, and that's exactly what they did in this one.

Damien Martinez was the heart of the offensive attack, having a career day, but we'll get to him more in takeaway No. 4...

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei finished with a very similar line to last week, but with one key difference, competition percentage... After going 12-of-24 (50%) for 223 yards and one touchdown a week ago, DJ was far sharper against the Cardinal, going 12-of-19 (63%) for 240 yards and two scores.

While the running game certainly was the engine of the offense, it was actually the passing game that eclipsed the running game as the Beavers threw for 321 yards.

The tight ends were busy in this one as Jack Velling was the leading receiver with three receptions for 55 yards, but Jermaine Terry also caught his first touchdown of his OSU career en route to two catches for 35 yards and a score. His touchdown was some of the most impressive arm strength I've seen from Uiagalelei, and Terry made a great play on the ball to haul it in and find the endzone.

Additionally, TE Riley Sharp got in on the action, catching his second touchdown of the season, from 28 yards out to close out the Oregon State scoring...

Anthony Gould only managed one catch, but it was a big one at a big time, going for 61 yards and helping the Beavers set up their third score. Spreading the ball around was the order of the day for the passing attack, as 12 different receivers caught passes.

Uiagalelei would only play Oregon State's first drive of the second half before giving way to Aidan Chiles with a 41-10 advantage. Chiles received his most-extensive action since the UC Davis matchup, and finished 5-of-8 for 75 yards and a touchdown, while also adding 14 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Additionally, kudos to the Oregon State coaching staff for getting Ben Gulbranson into the game. The reigning Las Vegas Bowl MVP hadn't gotten any in-game action this season but had one pass for six yards to freshman David Wells on the final drive of the night.

It may seem somewhat minor, but I guarantee the team was thrilled to get Gulbranson into the game. He endeared himself to his teammates last season, and while he isn't the guy in the quarterback room right now, he's a terrific teammate and a big key to OSU's culture.

Shifting gears to the defense, which we'll cover more in takeaway No. 3, they were flat-out impressive, handing in arguably their best performance of the season and in Pac-12 play.

The Beavers held the Cardinal to just 324 yards of total offense, and perhaps most importantly, kept them completely out of this matchup. Oftentimes, for a subpar team to hang with a good team, they'll need to make some plays that they believe, and OSU's defense allowed nearly none to Stanford in this one.

Additionally, this was the first game in two weeks where the fourth-quarter defense wasn't a concern. Granted some of that is because of the nature of the score in the 4th, but Stanford still had their starters out there and they were going against the second, third, and fourth teamers and still couldn't find any rhythm.

This was by far, Oregon State's most complete game on both sides of the ball and it couldn't have come at a better time...