Washington Huskies vs. Oregon State Beavers Football Instant Reactions

The final result is what we expected; the path to getting there was anything but.

Coming into Reser Stadium as 27.5-point favorites, the Washington Huskies went into halftime with just a 7-0 lead thanks to a surprisingly effective Oregon State Beavers pass rush that kept Jake Browning off balance for much of the first two quarters. Thankfully for the Husky faithful, the defense continued to pitch a shutout for nearly 57 minutes of the game, at which point the outcome had long been decided for a final score of Washington 42, Oregon State 7.

It’s hard to describe Washington’s first-half offensive performance as anything but sleepwalking. After starting the game with an efficient 10-play, 98 yard drive on their first possession, the Dawgs ended their next four series in the first half with a punt, punt, missed field goal, and another punt. Whatever Chris Petersen drilled into his players at halftime must have been effective, because the Huskies found the end zone on five of their first six second-half possessions.

As much as Washington’s offense struggled to start the game, the defense was clicking from the first series. Oregon State’s drive chart reads as follows: punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, kneel to end the half, punt, fumble, punt, punt, fumble, touchdown. By the time the Beavs got those seven points on the board, the Dawgs commanded a 42-point lead with the starters having long since left the game.

Dots:

• Lavon Coleman and Myles Gaskin continue to show that our concerns about the running game were largely unwarranted, earning a combined 183 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries. Likewise, Dante Pettis is playing a grown man’s version of the game, as Jake Browning’s No. 1 target hauled in 12 passes for 105 yards and three touchdowns. Browning put on an efficient performance by going 26 for 34, 293 yards, three touchdowns and one pick.
• Coming into this evening’s game, the Huskies had surrendered two sacks in four games, while the Beavers had earned three in four games. Both of those figures were turned on their heads as the Beavers brought Jake Browning down three times in the first half, twice on third down. Thankfully, the offensive line stiffened up and didn’t allow Browning to be sacked once in the second half.
• Washington statistically dominated this game, even if it didn’t feel like that was the case until the third quarter. The Husky defense limited Oregon State to two of 13 third-down conversions, 74 passing yards on 22 attempts, and 110 rushing yards on 28 attempts. Through three quarters, the Beaver offense had earned a measly 104 total yards.
• It really cannot be overstated how well the new-look secondary is playing, especially considering that they’re down a starter at the moment in Byron Murphy. Darell Garretson completed just 50 percent of his throws, completing 11 of 22 passes for 74 yards, for a miserable average of 3.4 yards per attempt.
• The Huskies earned 32 first-downs compared to Oregon State’s eight.
• Until Oregon State’s final drive in the fourth quarter, the Beavers had run just a single play on Washington’s side of the field. It doesn’t get much more offensively dominant than that.
• There’s a non-insignificant chance that Tristan Vizcaino has attempted his final kicks in a Husky uniform. He came into today’s game having missed three of seven field goal attempts on the year, and after missing a 42-yard attempt late in the second quarter, he was relieved by Van Soderberg who appeared for the remainder of Washington’s PAT attempts. I will be very interesting to see who makes the first place-kicking attempt next week against Cal.