The Oregon St. Beavers had the odds stacked against them without starting quarterback Sean Mannion, but a huge day from backup QB Cody Vaz and OSU's defense led the Beavers to a 42-24 win. Oregon State is now 5-0 this season and remains in the top 10.
As SB Nation's OSU blog, Building The Dam, explained in their game recap, the Beavers used big plays on offense to come out victorious on the road. Here was one telling stat from Saturday.
6 - Number of explosive plays (20+ yards). 2 to Brandin Cooks, 2 to Connor Hamlett, 1 to Markus Wheaton, 1 to Malcolm Agnew. Every scoring drive contained an explosive play, and every other drive that lacked one did not get a score. The Beavs have excelled at explosive plays this year, and it all starts with Cooks and Wheaton, although Connor Hamlett has been coming through in the clutch lately as well.
Here was another stat that caught the eye of Building The Dam's contributors.
5 - Number of rushes over 10 yards. This might not look like that great a number but it was out of 20 rushes as a team. The offensive line opened up a number of holes against the Cougars today, BYU did stuff a number of runs, but the running game has steadily improved since that first game versus Wisconsin.
Oregon State's quest for a perfect season will continue next week as they welcome in the Utah Utes. Look for Vaz and the OSU running game to have a big day against Utah's defense, which ranks 50th in total defense.