Oregon State’s Comeback Attempt Against Stanford University Ultimately Falls Short

Football fans often talk about the game almost exclusively in terms of the offense and the defense, much to the chagrin of football coaches. After all, any coach worth their salt knows how many games can be won or lost as a result of Special Teams.

Unfortunately, the Oregon State Beavers had to find out the hard way about the latter, in their 31-28 loss to the Stanford Cardinal this past Saturday.

Trailing 21-0 in the third quarter, Oregon State would tie up the game the game at 28-28 thanks to running back Artavis Pierce’s 1-yard touchdown run with just 1:55 left in the game. But Stanford wide receiver Connor Wedington would take the ensuing kickoff and return it 43 yards, giving Stanford the ball at midfield, in prime position for a go-ahead score. Seven plays later, Stanford kicker Jet Toner would convert a 39-yard attempt with just one second left on the clock, giving Stanford the win and handing the Beavers their fifth-straight loss against Pac-12 opponents.

Things looked rather bleak for Oregon State as Stanford mounted a three-touchdown lead. Halfway through the third quarter, the Beavers had only accumulated 167 total yards. In keeping with the theme of special teams woes, two of Oregon State’s first three drives ended in missed field goals, with kicker Jordan Choukair missing a 50-yard attempt in the first quarter and having his 38-yard attempt blocked in the second quarter.

But watching Stanford quarterback Davis Mills throw his third touchdown pass of the afternoon seemingly spurred something within the Oregon State players. They scored on their next three possessions, driving 75, 95, and 75 yards on those three possessions.

Senior quarterback Jake Lupton, who threw for a career-high 337 yards in the loss, connected with wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins from 11 yards out to commence Oregon State’s scoring. Pierce would add a 43-yard run for Oregon State’s first touchdown, followed by redshirt freshman running back B.J. Baylor would score from one yard out to cut Stanford’s lead to 28-21 (Stanford responded to Pierce’s first scoring run with another touchdown pass by Mills).

But with the clock winding down, Pierce put the team on his back, running for 49 yards on the game-tying drive, which included a 36-yard run that got the Beavers down to Stanford’s one yard line. Pierce would then plunge the ball into the endzone from there.

And yet, the 141 yards rushing by Pierce, the second-highest rushing yardage total of his career at Oregon State, was unfortunately no quite enough.

The Beavers will seek their first Pac-12 win of 2019 next Saturday when they head to Los Angeles, to play the UCLA Bruins. The Beavers enter the game as underdogs, despite the fact that the Bruins are off to a disappointing 1-4 start to the season. The team coached by Chip Kelly is off to a surprisingly sluggish start on offense, scoring 17 or less points in each of their four losses. However, the Bruins did pick up a quality win against Washington State University two Saturday’s ago, defeating the Cougars in a wild 67-63 shoot out in Pullman, Washington.