Sam Houston at Oregon State
Oregon State came out in this one at home in Corvallis and put points up on the board the first two times they had the ball. First on a drive that started with back-to-back-back double digit runs, a 30 yard pass, and a 2 yard TD run by Senior RB Anthony Hankerson, his first of two on a day in which he would rush 33 times for 166 of the team’s 188 yard total. After holding Sam Houston to a three-an-out, their second score would come on a 33 yard field goal by their Junior Place Kicker Caleb Ojeda to go up 10-0. After holding the Bearkats to a turnover on downs and a punt on their third possession of the quarter the Beavers would give Sam Houston a golden opportunity to close the gap by fumbling on the very first play of their next drive inside their own red zone. Freshman QB Mabrey Mattauer would complete an 11 yard TD pass to Junior WR Grady O’Neill, but it would be nullified due to an ineligible player downfield. The penalty moved Sam Houston back five yards to the 16 yard line. A six yard pass, a one yard loss, and an incompletion would lead to a chip shot field goal attempt from 29 yards out that Ojeda would miss. The Beavers would follow that good fortune up with their second touchdown of the game on another run by Anthony Hankerson—this one for 13 yards to the house to put Oregon State up 17 zip. This just seemed too easy right, and as it turned out it was.
The turn-around started on Oregon State’s next possession with an interception from the Sam Houston 38 yard line that was returned 36 yards to the Oregon State 35 yard line. One play later Freshman QB Mabrey Mettauer connects with Junior WR Chris Reed on a 35 yard TD pass to cut that lead to ten, 17-7 with a little over a minute left. The Beavers were able to get the ball back down to the Bearkats 24 yard line with 1 second left on the clock but Ojeda would miss from 42 yards out. That gap really closed up on the first play of the 3rd Qtr on a kickoff returned for TD by Junior WR Tim Burns Jr. to make it 17-14. Six plays later Ojeda would miss his second field goal in a row—this one from 46 yards out. After holding the Bearkats to a three-and-out the Beavers would get another chance to score but got bogged down in the red zone and with their place kicker missing two field goals in a row decided to go for it sitting 4th and 6 at the Sam Houston 16 yard line.
I digress. I realize it’s easy to Monday morning—it’s actually Monday afternoon right now—quarterback these situations but a field goal from the 16 yard line is less than 40 yards and their kicker has been perfect from those distances while he is 1 for 7 on field goals of 40 yards or more. Based on his stats they should have tried to convert the first two 4th down situations instead of this one. It just seemed like such a no-brainer to not only let him attempt a field goal from a distance he’s never missed at which would help rebuild his confidence over the two misses just in case you might need him to win the game later.
Back to it. Needless to say they didn’t convert the 4th and 6 at the Bearkat 16 yard line. In spite of their failure Sam Houston wasn’t able to take advantage on their next possession and missed a 47 yard field goal of their own as the end of a drive that started with almost six minutes left in the 3rd quarter and ended just a minute into the fourth. Don’t worry I’m not even going to go look the kicker’s stats up. That miss would be the first of a number of screw-ups by both teams in the last quarter of the game with the worst happening on the Beavers second possession of the 4th Qtr when sitting 4th and 8 near midfield the Oregon State punter would have his kick blocked and returned for a TD by Freshman DE Brody Henderson to finally put the Bearkats on top 21-17. The Beavers were able to work their way down to the Sam Houston 10 yard line but would fail to convert a 4th and 3 and have to turn the ball back over. They held the Bearkats to a three-and-out on their next possession but five plays into their own Sophomore QB Gabarri Johnson would throw his second interception of the game. With less than two minutes left you’d think that they wouldn’t get another chance but Sam Houston threw an interception of their own just three plays in and Oregon State got it back with over a minute left. But an incompletion sitting 4th and 5 at the Bearkat 23 yard line with just 33 seconds left would mercifully end it.
For Oregon State, Sophomore QB Gabarri Johnson was 29-of-42 for 286 yards, no TD’s, and 2 interceptions while also rushing 7 times for 22 yards. On the ground it was Senior RB Anthony Hankerson who stood out as the lone offensive hero rushing 33 times for 166 of the team’s 188 yard total. For Sam Houston, Freshman QB’s Maubrey Mettauer and Landyn Locke collectively connected on just 9 of their 24 passing attempts for 1 TD to Junior WR Chris Reed, and 1 interception. On the ground the team combined for just 72 yards on 24 carries. Oregon State had 20 more first downs, over 300 more total yards of offense, had the ball 17 minutes longer and still found a way to lose. Probably just as well as the Beavers final two games will be out of town to take on Tulsa this next Saturday before heading out to the Palouse to have another game against the other PAC-12 orphan, Washington State.