The Oregon State Beavers entered Saturday's game against the BYU Cougars looking for their second win of the season on the heels of last week's 27-17 victory over the Arizona Wildcats. Through four quarters of up-and-down play, the Beavers kept it close but ultimately fell 38-21 to the Cougars.
The Beavers inadvertently followed the same game plan each and every quarter on Saturday: they started out slowly and then picked it up in the latter stages of the period. In the first quarter, the Beavers managed only one first down before the Cougars took over and scored on a 10-yard run from running back Michael Alisa. Oregon State bounced back by putting together a strong drive that left the Beavers on the BYU 12-yard line at the end of the period.
The Beavers started out slow again in the second period, beginning with a 40-yard interception by quarterback Sean Mannion that resulted in another BYU score. The Beavers responded once again with a one-yard Mannion touchdown run and a 51-yard pick-six of Cougars quarterback Riley Nelson. The Beavers and Cougars entered halftime tied 14-14.
In the third quarter, Oregon State turned the ball over three times (once on a Mannion interception, once on a Malcolm Angew fumble and once on a Colby Prince fumble) to allow BYU to get ahead again. The Cougars scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Cody Hoffman and a 33-yard field goal by Justin Sorensen for a 10-point lead. The Beavers, however, came back once again late in the period with a 59-yard touchdown strike from Mannion to Brandon Cooks.
The Beavers entered the fourth quarter down 24-21, but their early-quarter struggles this time around would prove to be their undoing. BYU scored on a two-yard pass from Nelson to JD Falslev and (following a 48-yard missed field goal by Beavers kicker Trevor Romaine) tacked on a second touchdown with an eight-yard pass from Nelson to Kaneakua Friel. Jovan Stevenson fought back late in the quarter with a two-yard touchdown run, but the Beavers had fallen too far behind by that point to come back and ended the game with a 38-28 loss.
Mannion finished the game with 305 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions on 27-of-43 passing. Agnew led the Beavers in rushing with 47 yards on 10 carries but also had a fumble. Markus Wheaton led the Beavers receivers with 104 yards on eight receptions, though he failed to record a touchdown.
The Beavers fall to 1-5 on the season with this loss. Oregon State takes to the road with games against Washington State and Utah before a home match-up with Andrew Luck and No. 7 Stanford.