Oregon State tops Hawaii, 45-27

Oregon State earned their first victory in the home opener behind big efforts from Chance Nolan and Anthony Gould. Both players weren’t projected starters going into the season, but they seem to have earned starting positions with their performance going forward. The Beavers defense struggled in the second half after a promising first half. Despite the unexpectedly close 2nd half, it’s always more fun to learn from your mistakes in a win. Here’s how it all happened:

FIRST HALF

Oregon State started this game off hot. Scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions and settled for a field goal on their fourth possession to take a 24-7 lead. Chance Nolan was a perfect 13-for-13 passing before finally throwing an incompletion. B.J. Baylor showed off his wheels for a 66-yard touchdown run. The defense was looking Sharp (Riley Sharp pun intended), truly everything went the Beavers way in the first half.

SECOND HALF

It looked like the 2nd half would continue much like the first as the Beavers immediately intercepted Chevan Cordeiro and on the next play B.J. Baylor scampered for another touchdown run. But Hawaii took a page from Lee Corso’s playbook saying “NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND”. The next 20 minutes of game time were much less friendly to Oregon State. Hawaii’s offense started to get the hang of Oregon State’s defense and they scored touchdowns on three straight possessions to cut into the Beavs lead (38-27). Chance Nolan and the Beavers offense made some clutch plays in the fourth quarter to put the game away though.

Stay tuned to Building the Dam for more game analysis later in the week. Watching the Beavers build that 24-point lead was awesome. Oregon State of course has some things to clean up, especially defensively. Forcing a few turnovers and scoring touchdowns instead of settling for field goals were the difference maker tonight though.