Oregon State at Colorado State
If you look up the wide receiver stats in the football database this week, year-to-date you’ll find Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith on top in both receptions, yards, and touchdowns. But tied with Smith for TD’s is Oregon State’s Jessie Legree. Yes, he has sixteen fewer receptions—44-28—but only 79 fewer yards because he averages just about 8 yards further per catch than Smith. Legree and his Sophomore QB Braden Atkinson were on fire in their game on the road at Colorado State. Atkinson connected on over 90% of his passes for 427 yards, 5 TD’s and no interceptions, with three of those TD’s to Legree.
The Beavers got the ball to start the game and wasted no time getting on the board. Six plays in Atkinson hit Legree for a 50 yard TD pass to take a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. After Colorado State failed to convert a 4th and 1 at the Oregon State 4 yard line and had to turn the ball back over, the Beavers would find the end zone again 96 yards and 13 plays later—this time on a short run by their Senior TE Gabe Melbourn to make it 14-0 with just a minute left in the quarter. Colorado State Senior RB Mel Brown took matters into his own hands on their next possession, returning the Oregon State punt 36 yards and then running the ball on back-to-back plays—the first for 46 yards and the second for 17 yards into the end zone to make it a 14-7 game. After fielding an onside kick by Colorado State, Atkinson would get sacked on their first play and fumble the ball back to the Rams to end the quarter.
Eight plays into the second quarter Colorado State would tie it up 14-14 on a short run by their Sophomore QB K’Saan Farrar. But holding the Rams to just 3, 4, and 5 play drives that went no where the rest of the 2nd Qtr, Oregon would score on back-to-back-to-back TD’s to take a commanding 35-14 lead into the break. Intercepting Colorado State on their first possession of the second half, the Beavers would extend their lead to four TD’s on an 8 yard TD pass from Atkinson to Senior TE Eric Olsen making it a 42-14 game. Colorado State would finally score for the first time in the second half on a 7 yard TD pass from Farrar to Senior TE Nader Chirchi to make it 42-20 at the end of three after failing to make a 2-point conversion. Colorado State would score once again in the 4th Qtr on a 9 yard TD run by Senior RB Durell Robinson. But Oregon had already scored another TD before their possession and would score again after it to finish the 56-26 blowout.
For Oregon State, Atkinson connected on 31-of-34 with those three TD’s to Legree and two more to his TE Eric Olsen. With Senior RB AJ Newberry leading the way rushing 15 times for 90 yards, the Beavers rushed a total of 36 times for 223 yards and 3 TD’s—1 by Sophomore RB Cornell Hatcher, 1 by Sophomore WR Aaron Butler, and one by Senior TE Gabe Milbourn. Oregon State led in first downs, 34-20; total yards of offense, 650-366; converted 83% of their third downs as well as their only 4th down attempt; and had possession of the ball 10 more minutes than the Rams. The Beavers are currently sitting third in the new PAC-12 behind No. 23 Boise State and Fresno State—both of which are on their dance card for later in the season. Coming up this next week they’ll play host to San Diego State at 3:00pm on the USAN.
Fresno State at Washington State
Fresno State took a break from the 100 degree heat of California and traveled to the Palouse to take on the Washington State Cougars this past Saturday–a Cougar team that more resembles that first team Mike Leach took over in 2012 than any team after that. Averaging 19 points a game while allowing 25 makes it hard to win and they haven’t done much of that. Losing four-of-five, including this one 26-6, their only win came against the non-major Duquesne. In spite of the anemic offense you have to credit the play of their gritty defense that only allowed one field goal in both the first and second quarter—keeping them in this game and in a 6-6 tie at the break with two field goals of their own. But they were held scoreless in the second half by the Bulldogs who finally wore down the Cougar defense to score 20 points in the second half for a 26-6 win which keeps them tied with No. 23 Boise State for the top spot in the newly constructed PAC-12 conference.
For Washington State, Sophomore QB Caden Pinnick was 21-of-34 for 152 yards, no TD’s and 1 interception while also rushing 11 times and losing 23 yards. On the ground, minus Pinnick’s effort, they collectively rushed for 53 yards on 13 carries without a score. For Fresno State, Junior QB Jayden Mandal connected on 24-of-33 for 245 yards with no TD’s or interceptions while also rushing 9 times for 27 yards. On the ground, they collectively rushed 35 times for 130 yards with Freshman RB Julius Gillick and Senior WR Josiah Freeman both finding the end zone. The Bulldogs led in first downs, 15-9; total yards of offense, 375-182; had the ball 12 minutes longer; had fewer turnovers; and were more successful at converting their third downs. In addition, their defense recorded 5 sacks, 6 tackles for loss, and 3 pass disruptions. The Cougars hit the road for a game against Utah State this Friday and then will be in Corvallis the following Saturday to take on Oregon State.