The 3-2-1: Oregon State Earns First Shutout Since 2008

With the Oregon State football team (2-1) cruising to an easy 42-0 victory over the Idaho Vandals (1-2) at Reser Stadium on Saturday afternoon, BeaversEdge.com gives three things we learned, poses two questions, and gives one prediction...

MORE: Highlights + Social Media Reaction | Beavers Cruise Past Idaho 42-0 |

Three Things We Learned

1. For The First Time In 13 Years, Oregon State's Defense Held An Opponent To 0

-> It's been a long time coming, but for the first time since the 2008 Sun Bowl, the Oregon State defense held an opponent to zero points! The 42-0 victory was the Beavers' first shutout at Reser Stadium since defeating Idaho 38-0 back In 2006.

While the relative overall offensive strength of Idaho should be taken into consideration, there's no doubt that a performance like this was much-needed for a defense still trying to find their way in the Jonathan Smith era.

From the Purdue game until now, the defensive improvement has been steady and I believe we saw the culmination of multiple weeks of hard work pay off against the Vandals.

It wasn't a perfect start to the season, as the Beavers allowed more yards and points than they would have liked against Purdue and Hawaii, but having a performance like the Idaho game will do so much for the defense overall confidence.

To put it bluntly, you could argue that never before in the Smith/Tim Tibesar tenure has the defense been able to believe in themselves this early in the season and I think it's going to have a massive positive effect in the coming weeks.

This defense has steadily gotten better each week, and now they'll be put to the ultimate test against USC this next weekend...

2. Offensive Execution Was Crisp

-> On the offensive side of the ball, you couldn't have asked for a more well-executed game as the Oregon State offense, led by quarterback Chance Nolan, scored touchdowns on its first four drives.

In his second start of the season under center, the redshirt sophomore signal-caller was once again sharp, slicing up the Vandal defense to the tune of 175 yards and three touchdowns while adding 21 yards on the ground. He only had five incompletions and had a QB rating of 203.2 on the day.

The only drive the Beavers didn't score on in the first half was right before the end of the half, and they responded by coming out of the halftime break and adding two more scores before electing to put in the backups.

Once Nolan had delivered the Beavers a 35-0 lead on the opposite side of halftime, the Beavers inserted week one starter Sam Noyer for two drives in the third quarter. Noyer's first drive was capped off with a B.J. Baylor touchdown (his second of the day, seventh on the year), while his second series was ended by way of an interception.

Freshman quarterback Sam Vidlak received the entirety of the fourth quarter snaps, as he was able to get some much-needed game experience.

All in all, you couldn't have asked for a better offensive performance heading into the start of Pac-12 play. The Beavers were able to hang a lopsided number on the scoreboard, get multiple guys playing time, all while getting out of the contest with no major injuries.

With 438 total yards of offense (248 rush, 190 passing), the Beavers took care of business against the Vandals and gave themselves a ton of offensive confidence heading into Pac-12 play.

3. The Beavers Have Set Themselves Up Well

-> While it wasn't the dream 3-0 start that the Beavers were hoping for, entering Pac-12 play on the heels of two important wins is nothing to scoff at.

The Beavers are entering conference play with a winning record for the first time since 2015 and there's real hope and belief within this group that things are starting to fall Into place.