Aided by an Oregon State fumble in their own red zone late in the 3rd Qtr and in spite of a UNLV interception giving the ball back over to the Beavers down 8 with a little over two minutes to go, Gevani McCoy’s pass—1st and goal at the UNLV 6 yard line with three seconds left—fell incomplete and the Rebels were able to hang onto a 33-25 victory in Corvallis after trailing 17-16 at the half. It was a tag-team effort by UNLV’s Senior QB Hajj-Malik Williams who threw for 1 TD and ran for two more while Freshman Place Kicker Caden Chittenden was perfect on three PATs and four field goals to add another 15 points to the scoreboard.
Oregon State got the ball to start the game and went out in front 3-0 on a 20 yard Everett Hayes field goal after an 11 play, 76 yard drive, that bogged down deep in the red zone. But after three attempts inside the five yard line settled on some sure points instead of taking the risk of coming away with nothing after spending seven minutes on the drive. UNLV would launch their own seven minute drive covering 82 yards in 15 plays with the same result and tie the score at three a piece with less than a minute left in the 1st Qtr. The Beavers Junior QB Gevani McCoy would run it into the end zone 12 plays later to take a 10-3 lead with the Rebels getting to within four at the end of their next possession with another field goal. This one from 34 yards out to make it 10-6. Three plays later after a 71 yard TD run by McCoy the Beavers would be back up 17-6, seemingly just not willing to let the Rebels catch up and pass them. But with well under two minutes left in the half UNLV would almost do just that scoring both a TD and field goal before the break to be down by just one, 17-16, at the half.
A three-and-out, a fumble deep in their own red zone, and another punt after six plays would get in the way of the Beavers putting any points up on the board in the 3rd Qtr while UNLV would take advantage of that fumble by Oregon State at their own 12 yard with another TD run by Williams just two plays later to take a 23-17 lead. The Beavers would finally get themselves another TD as well as a two-point conversion but it wasn’t until late in the 4th Qtr after the Running Rebels had already put 10 more points up on the board with a TD and a field goal. Final score, 33-25, leaving Oregon State with an overall record of 4-3 with five games left to become bowl eligible. For the Beavers, Gevani McCoy connected on 21-of-37 for 231 yards in the air without a TD or interception in addition to rushing 16 times for 81 of the teams yards on the ground as well as two of their three TD’s with Junior RB Anthony Hankerson picking up the other while rushing 17 times for 61 yards. Oregon State will hit the road to take on California this coming Saturday at 1:00pm on ESPN2.