Whether playing at home, where they’re undefeated this year, or not this should have been an easy one for Oregon State and it was as they demolished Colorado 42-9 in Corvallis. The Beaver’s latest greatest offensive weapon, as if they needed one, is Freshman RB Damien Martinez who more than made it easier on their back-up fellow Freshman QB Ben Gulbranson starting his third consecutive game in place of Chance Nolan who is still in concussion protocol. Martinez had a career day while carrying the ball 22 times for 178 yards and 3 TD’s while Gulbranson connected on over 60% of his passes for 202 yards and 2 TD’s without an interception. For Colorado, J. T. Shrout threw for almost precisely the same amount of yards at 206, but instead of two TD’s threw up 2 picks. On the ground Colorado didn’t fair a whole lot better rushing 28 times for 84 yards and a single TD by Sophomore RB Jayle Stacks.
Oregon State led from start-to-finish, 7-0 at the end of the 1st Qtr, 21-3 at the break, 35-9 after three and then added another score half-way through the 4th before intercepting Colorado on their last possession and running out the clock. Oregon State’s 6-2 record, with their only two losses against No. 10 USC and No. 14 Utah, is their best start since head coach Mike Riley took them to the Alamo Bowl in 2012. The Beavers led in 1st Downs, 26-to-17; Total Yards of Offense, 472-to-290; had possession of the ball for nine more minutes and converted their third downs better than 60% of the time compared to less than 20% for Colorado.
Regarding Martinez, Oregon State Head Coach Jonathan Smith had this to say after the game; “He’s special. The guy’s got a nice knack for being a true freshman. He got his fair share of carries tonight and showed up.” As the AP wrote in their Take Away for ESPN; “Damien Martinez may have worked his way into a lead-back role. The true freshman has produced back-to-back 100-yard rushing games, and 372 yards and four touchdowns in the last three games.” Oregon State hits the road for Seattle to take on the Huskies in what should be a really good one while Colorado heads back home to host Arizona State.