Don’t know if you remember what happened last year. I’m sure Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham does as going into the final week of the season USC had clinched a spot in the PAC-12 Conference Championship game. But the Utes, due to losses to UCLA and Oregon, were at the mercy of the college football gods as three teams were left in contention—Washington, Oregon, and the team that eventually made it in at the end of that Saturday, Utah. But in order for that to happen much more than Utah simply beating last year’s 1-11 Colorado had to take place. UCLA had to beat California, the Huskies had to beat the Cougars in the Apple Cup, and Oregon needed to lose their game on the road in Corvallis to in-state rival Oregon State. Whittingham must have been sweating bullets watching that game as the Ducks were on top 31-17 going into the 4th Qtr. But the Beavers, just like they did last week against the Cougars in Pullman, put 21 points up in that final period while holding Oregon to just three to win the game 38-34 and send Utah into the championship game against USC which they won.
Against a defense Bill Connelly referred to in his SBNation review of Oregon State back in 2019 as, “a master work in awfulness,” Utah got to experience first hand this past Friday evening just how difficult it is to win against Jonathan Smith’s rebuilt Beaver defense on the road in Reser Stadium in a 21-7 loss that could put them back into the same situation they were in last year. Time will tell, but one has to assume that they’ll have more than seven points up on that board against tough teams once they get their starting QB, Cam Rising, back from injury. Rising, who hasn’t played since tearing an ACL in the Rose Bowl loss to Penn State early this year, will be cleared for play after their upcoming bye week and should be on the field in their game against Cal on October 14th which will give him one week to prepare for back-to-back games against USC on the road and Oregon at home.
Utah was held scoreless until just over five minutes to play in this one, a game which was clearly summed up afterwards by Whittinham who said; “Oregon State came right out from the get go, excellent game plan, both on O[ffense] and D[efense]. Give them all the credit. They made plays, we didn’t make plays. We had one touchdown and not even 200 yards of offense. We’re going to win exactly zero games doing that.” On the ground the Utes rushed 32 times for a total of just 57 yards, an average of less than two yards per carry, and no points on the scoreboard. In the air, Rising’s two back-ups combined for just 13-of-31 for 141 yards, 1 TD by Freshman QB Nate Johnson, and 1 interception by Junior QB Bryson Barnes.
Oregon State’s Junior QB DJ Uiagalelei connected on 14-of-25 for 204 yards, 1 TD, and one ugly interception in the top half of the 4th Qtr. Junior WR Silas Bolden and Senior Jesiah Irish were the recipients of nine of those fourteen passes and 162 yards with Bolden on the receiving end of Uiagalelei’s 27 yard TD pass to go up 14-0 in the 3rd Qtr. On the ground, Bolden combined with Sophomore RB Damien Martinez for 118 of the Beaver’s 131 yards rushing and a TD each. Defensively both teams picked up three sacks with Utah recording 13 tackles for loss against 5 for the Beavers.
In a battle between the two best defensive teams in the conference in which their were eight punts and just seven points scored through the first half, the game never really felt completely in hand until early in the 4th Qtr. While sitting on a 4th and 1 at the Utah 45 yard line the Beavers lined up tightly in what looked to be a QB sneak to pick up the 1st down but instead pitched it out to the right to Silas Bolden who took it 45 yards to the house and a 21-0 lead. Utah was able to avoid the shut-out after holding Oregon State to a three-and-out in the second half of the 4th Qtr on back-to-back-to-back passes including a 41 yarder by Nate Johnson to Senior TE Thomas Yassmin.
Looking forward, the Beavers hit the road to take on Cal before coming back home to host UCLA while Utah gets a bye week to get things back in order.