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Oregon State's first six games of the 2017 season under Gary Andersen were brutal. The five losses were blowouts and the one win was a three-point victory over lowly Portland State.
So when Cory Hall took over as interim head coach and the Beavers nearly knocked off Colorado and Stanford, losing those games by a combined four points, Oregon State players and fans alike felt a reviving jolt of energy into the program.
Coming into Saturday's game against Cal, there was a belief that the Beavers had a great chance to earn their first Pac-12 road win since 2014.
However, the Beavers fell flat despite cutting the Cal lead to 23-20 late in the third quarter. Cal responded with a quick touchdown to put the lead at 30-20 and never looked back.
Hall reacted to the loss, which puts OSU at 1-8 on the season, in his postgame press conference and spoke about the mistakes his young team has made over the course of the season.
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"That's been the story of the whole season. You can't hurt yourself," Hall said. "You can't shoot yourself in the foot. Sometimes we do that; we do that as a team. It's not one individual. It's not one side of the ball. It's as a team. And the team on the other sideline has their own issues and they do the same thing. At the end of the day, I just want to praise Cal for what they did and what they accomplished. We fell short."
Other than Manase Hungalu, who finished the game with 20 total tackles, the Beavers as a whole didn't seem to quite reach the same energy level that they had against Colorado and Stanford.
"It's never a player's fault. I don't believe in that," Hall explained. "Their mindsets, their hearts, their preparation – it's where it needs to be. When plays are there to be made, we just have to make our plays."
There were still some positives to take away from the game for the Beavers. While OSU struggled running the ball, Thomas Tyner scored his third touchdown of the season, and Hall is very pleased with the Oregon transfer.
"Thomas has been very effective," said Hall. "Thomas Tyner has been a huge positive for our offense. When a player comes in and he's been retired from football for a lengthy amount of time, it's a process getting him back and getting him going. I think you're starting to see Thomas Tyner come into his own. Looking ahead, we plan on him playing a lot of football. He's going to be a major factor in the offense for us in the run game."
Another positive was the creative play calling by offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven. On the opening possession of the game, the Beavers capped it off with a touchdown pass from tight end Tuli Wily-Matagi to running back Ryan Nall. Yes, you read that right.
"The boys get excited about installing a trick play every week," Hall said. "It was executed just how we practiced it. It was designed and it was well-executed. At the end of the day, it's about our players having fun, and they had fun with that one."
