Smith on loss to USC: 'We just didn't have enough'

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Early in the fourth quarter, Oregon State outside linebacker Matthew Tago tracked down USC running back Vavae Malepeai from behind and stripped the ball clean. OSU safety Jalen Moore picked the loose ball up and returned it for a touchdown.

However, the referees blew the whistle and ruled that Malepeai was down, but a review overturned that call. If the refs would not have missed the call on the field, a Moore fumble recovery would've tied the game up at 28-28.

"The mistake is that the call on the field was incorrect ... and they overturned it," Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith said about the call.

Instead, Oregon State got the ball right where Moore recovered the ball at the USC 39, but the Beavers' offense stalled, turning the ball over on downs. On OSU's prior drive, they turned the ball over on downs with a fake field goal pass -- both drives were well inside USC territory.

"We wanted to stay aggressive -- didn't think field goals were going to get us over the hump," Smith said about the fake field goal play. "It's something we've been practicing for a couple of weeks."

The blown call by the Pac-12 refs greatly hurt OSU's chances, as they weren't able to get things going offensively in the second half, and ultimately fell 38-21 to USC.

"Just not enough tonight. (USC) is a good football team," Smith said. "Congratulations to them. We just didn't quite have enough tonight. I continue to appreciate our kids' effort. I thought we had a good week of work ... At the end of the day, we just didn't have enough."

Quarterback Jake Luton had a near flawless first half, completing 22-of-27 passes for 220 yards and a passing touchdown. In the second half, he completed just 9-of-18 passes for 81 yards. The Beavers' senior gunslinger finished with 301 passing yards but was sacked six times.

"I thought he was accurate tonight," Smith said. "He made some good throws under duress at times ... We just have to continue to short up the protection -- that's been killing us."

Defensively, Oregon State showed plenty of fight but was overpowered, as USC gained 509 yards. The Beaver defense had four nice drives in which they stopped USC, but spotting USC 21 points to start the game was something OSU couldn't recover from.

"We just have to keep fighting ... It doesn't matter when, you just have to keep fighting," linebacker Hamilcar Rashed said.