After earning its first Pac-12 win in dramatic fashion over the Colorado Buffaloes, Oregon State (2-5, 1-6) now turns its attention to the USC Trojans (4-4, 3-3). The Beavers snapped a four year, 22 game road losing streak against the Buffs and will be looking to carry that momentum against Clay Helton’s Trojans Saturday night.

BeaversEdge.com senior writer Brenden Slaughter was in Corvallis for Jonathan Smith’s weekly press conference and here’s what we learned.

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- Jake Luton, who was named Pac-12 offensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the Beavers 41-34 comeback win over Colorado, is expected to play Saturday against USC per Jonathan Smith. Smith noted that Luton is still recovering from that ankle injury and should be a go for Saturday barring any setbacks. Smith wouldn’t go all the way to saying Luton would be the set in stone starter, but based on his tone and wording, I’d say he’s the guy on Saturday.

- Conor Blount, who traveled and dressed but didn’t play against the Buffs as he was in concussion protocol, is still in protocol according to Smith. He noted that he expects him to be cleared later in the week, but as of now there wasn’t a significant change in his status. He seemed confident he’d be available against the Trojans.

- Artavis Pierce hasn’t returned to a full practice yet, but Smith is hopeful he’ll play for Saturday’s game.

- Gus Lavaka, who left the Colorado contest with a lower body injury, is expected to play against USC barring any setbacks. Given that Lavaka is arguably OSU’s best offensive lineman outside of Blake Brandel, it’s a huge break for the Beavers to not have to put him on the shelf.

- Nothing new on David Morris as Smith confirmed that he won’t play this weekend. Morris has been mentioned by Smith several times this season as a candidate to redshirt while still playing in games this season and now that we have four games remaining, all eyes are on Morris. Smith said that he hasn’t yet returned to practice but that he wasn’t ruling him out for the season and that he could still play in the final two games of the season.

- Smith was very pleased with the play of receiver Champ Flemings, who tallied two big catches against the Buffs. He went out of his way to offer praise to the young, speedy receiver and it will be interesting to see how he further works his way into the rotation with Luton back at QB.

Jonathan Smith on why Luton didn’t start against CU

“He was so limited during the week in practice and we weren’t certain that he’d be able to protect himself out there. We felt good with the way that Jack Colletto practiced but at halftime we knew that we had to try something, and despite Luton being limited, he was able to make a lot of throws from the pocket.”

Smith on the Beavers’ team morale following such an emotional win

“The vibe has been each Sunday in regards to getting back to work, but obviously this Sunday was really unbeat and the guys were really excited to get after it. These guys have been working so hard and to have it come out on the right side was really special for them. Winning a game does help the long haul.”

Smith on the Luton-Hodgins connection

“I think they’ve got some really good chemistry. With Hodgins, Jake is giving him some opportunities with 50-50 balls where he’s had to go up and get it, and he’s delivered. It’s been nice to have because they made some similar plays to the Nevada game. Those two guys work really hard at it.”

Smith on getting the 22 straight road loss monkey off the Beavers’ back

“It’s big in regards to the fact that we don’t have to answer questions about it and our kids don’t have to read about it anymore. At the same time, we’re not a finished product in any way. We need more wins and we’ve got a ton of work ahead of us to accomplish that.”

Smith on USC

“It starts with their explosive athletes… Receiver, running back, they can explode quickly, and they have some really good young talent at quarterback. I know they’ve had to rotate injury wise with the quarterbacks, but I know all three through the recruiting process and they’re all talented kids. Defensively, they have some really physical lineman. It’s going to be a good challenge for us.”

Smith on OSU giving up huge running plays coming out of halftime

“I know specifically on this one, (CU receiver) J.D. Nixon was killing us in the first half, so at the break, we made an adjustment to double-team him. When you start doing that, you don’t have a safety back to be able to tackle. We misfitted the run, so no one was in the B gap and then the safety is clouding the receiver, and then (Travon McMillian) just out ran us.”