Oregon State Allow Late Washington State Push, Cougs Win 31-24

Oregon State (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) drops their first PAC-12 game of the season to Washington State (3-3, 2-2 Pac-12) 31-24 in Pullman on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the PAC-12 North Division becomes increasingly interesting with no undefeated teams remaining.

The Beavers entered the game as the number one rushing attack in the PAC-12 at 229 yards per game and exercised that option early, scoring off a Jack Colletto two-yard run. The first half belonged to the Oregon St defense while OSU QB Chance Nolan couldn’t create much offense.

Washington State was limited to just three points in the opening half and turned it over on downs twice inside the Oregon State ten in the second quarter. In the second half, it felt similar to the Cougar squads under Mike Leach and depended on its pass attack after trailing 10-3 at halftime.

The Cougars have struggled to score this season but went on to achieve four touchdowns in four straight possessions in the second half. Sophomore QB Jayden de Laura threw for three of them and finished the game with an impressive 399 yards while Oregon State kept it on the ground: B.J. Baylor ran for 145 yards and Deshaun Fenwick ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns but Oregon State couldn’t match the Cougars 28 second-half points. Despite tripling WSUs rushing total, OSU still lost the time of possession battle in big part to two costly interceptions.

Chance Nolan finished with just 158 passing yards and the lack of explosive passing plays sees WSU beat OSU for the eighth consecutive meeting.

Oregon State enters their bye week and returns to Reser Stadium on October 23 when the Beavers host Utah. Washington State hosts Stanford next Saturday.