Oregon State Snares A Second Last Second Win In Central California
After a generally forgettable 3 quarters of football that looked so Stanford-esque, and left Oregon State down 2 touchdwns, Oregon State scored 18 points in the 4th quarter, on 3 touchdowns, and without the benefit of any extra points, to secure their second last seconds of the night road win in Central California.
This time it came on Ben Gulbranson's pass that Tre'Shaun Harrison reached over a Stanford defender to snag, and then turn and run for the 56 yard touchdown that put the Beavers ahead 28-27 with 13 seconds left. It put Oregon State ahead for the first time all night, and seconds later, Ryan Cooper's interception (the only turnover of the game, and Oregon State's first takeaway in their last 3 games) sealed the deal, and secured the Beavers first win in Palo Alto since 2006. Almost as nailbiting as the Beavers win on the final play of the game a month ago in Fresno.
Check off another box on Coach Jonathan Smith's checklist, a conference road win for the first time in over a year, and his first at Stanford.
With a back-up quarterback, Gulbranson, a third year freshman pressed into service due to starter Chance Nolan's neck injury suffered last week at Utah.
The last minute of the game touchdown drive was made necessary after Stanford had hit a field goal to cap an over 4 minute drive that earned the Cardinal a 5 point lead, instead of just a field goal margin, due to the multiple missed 2 point conversions earlier in the quarter, which were made necessary by a serious laceration to long snapper Dylan Black's hand.
But it was also made possible by Damien Martinez's 43 yard touchdown run, above, with 5:45 left in the game that pulled Oregon State within 24-22, though the Beavers remained behind, due to the long snapper issues.
The game had all the familiar Stanford game earmarks, most notably a pair of touchdown catches by Brycen Tremayne, another in the endless line of monstrous sized Cardinal receivers, where Tremayne simply physically beat well positioned Oregon State defenders. But also by a missed field goal by the Beavers, and a perilously short number of opportunities, due to the clock consuming Stanford system. And a near-miss in the 2nd quarter on a could have been touchdown toss to Anthony Gould that would have changed the complexion of the game.
But if the Oregon State defense got burned a couple of times, and almost couldn't get off the field in the final 5:45 minutes of the game, its important to note the Beaver defense did force the Cardinal off the field after a 3 and out multiple times, and did get a sack that necessitated the field goal that opened a 5 point lead, but left the door open for a touchdown to be able to win the game.
It was, as was in Fresno, a highly improbable case of Oregon State pulling out the come from behind win by playing the full 60 minutes in a game anything less was not going to be sufficient. That full team effort broke a 2 game losing streak, and produced Oregon State's first winning streak against Stanford in 15 years.
"We did get the big play. We did not play well enough for the first 3, 3 1/2 quarters, but we did play the full 4 quarters," Smith said.
"We just kept grinding, and our defense kept us in it," Gulbranson added. "And at the end, we came up with the big play."
The win was also only the 8th time Stanford Coach David Shaw has lost a game in which the Cardinal held any halftime lead, much less the double digit 17-7 one this game.
It's also been 3 years since Oregon State has won multiple road games in the same season.
And it included another improbable accomplishment, the 99 yard touchdown drive Gulbranson engineered crossing the end of the first quarter and into the second period that tied the game at 7 apiece, on a 1 yard run by Jack Colletto, he of the game winning touchdown as time expired across the central California valley in Fresno. Jack-Hammering the opponent is a pretty consistently necessary component of big Beaver wins.
Gulbranson, making his first start, completed 20 of 29 passes, for 250 yards, and 2 4th quarter touchdowns (the first a 21 yard scoring pass on the 2nd play of the final period). It was close to the production of Stanford's Tanner McKee, who completed 20 of 33 passes, for 269 yards, and the 2 scores by Tremayne.
Harrison, above, had a game high 104 yards receiving, on a game high 7 catches, and the game winning score. Tremayne had 6 catches for 82 yards and the pair of scores to lead Stanford in receiving.
Martinez had a game high 83 yards rushing, on just 3 carries, but the Beavers also got 75 from Jam Griffin, on 13 carries, and 54 more from Deshaun Fenswick. Lake Oswego, OR, native Casey Filkins led Stanford on the ground, with 62 yards and the game's opening touchdown, on 21 carries.
Oregon State improved to 4-2, and 1-2 in the Pac-12, avoiding falling into last place. Stanford's free fall continues, as the Cardinal are 1-4, and 0-4 in conference, and haven't beaten an FBS opponent in their last 11 tries, dating back over a year.
Oregon State heads home for homecoming, against Washington State next Saturday night, the first of 4 home games in the second half of the season for the Beavers. The Cougars (4-2, 1-2) fell to USC 30-14 this afternoon in the LA Coliseum.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com
(AP Photos)