For one quarter, it looked as if Mike Riley and the Oregon St. Beavers were back to their old tricks. They took advantage of an early ASU mistake when Jordan Poyer picked off a Brock Osweiler throw on ASU's first drive. This set up
But this isn't every year for Oregon State. Young Beavers QB Sean Mannion went to Jordan Bishop twice and Markus Wheaton once to set up a Trevor Romaine 34 yard field goal. Osweiler fumbled the ball on the next drive to set up a Romaine 21 yard field goal and put OSU up 6-0. Poyer then picked of Osweiler again to set up another crucial Beaver scoring drive, capped off by Terron Ward scoring his first career Beaver touchdown to give Oregon State a 13-0 lead.
But then back came Arizona State, scoring immediately when Osweiler found A.J. Pickens for a 17 yard touchdown grab. Then Poyner fumbled a punt at midfield to set up ASU's offense for another Osweiler touchdown throw, this one finding Gerrell Robinson for 24 yards and giving the Sun Devils their first lead of the game. And Jamal Miles capped off the first half scoring with a 78 yard punt return.
Mannion is playing better, especially considering that he's had to throw nearly the entire game. He's thrown for 230 yards, but it's taken him 37 attempts to get to that number.
For more on Oregon State football, check out Building the Dam. For more on Arizona State football, go to House of Sparky.