The sea of fans dressed in orange and black have once again filled Reser Stadium to watch the Beavers secure a dominant 55-7 win over the Aggies in the first home game of the season on Saturday night.
Oregon State University fans showed up to the newly renovated stadium, enjoying the new “Beaver Street” on the stadium’s west side in the Beaver’s home opener of the 2023 season.
Fans shared that the new lighting, fireworks, sing-a-longs, and overall vibes were some of their favorite aspects of the new stadium.
Oregon State head football coach Jonathan Smith also expressed his excitement about finally getting to play in the full and renovated Reser stadium.
“It means a ton, a ton of fun to get out there and have that energy, that atmosphere, and all the leadup and all the hard work that has gotten us to this point,” Smith said. “Then we started fast as a team, and then the crowd got them in it from the get-go, so it was special.”
Early in the game, the Beavers opened the scoring with a one-play 64-yard rushing touchdown from running back Damien Martinez to give the Beavers the lead and make the score 7-0.
On the ensuing possession for the Beavers, quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei added to the Oregon State lead with a three-yard rushing touchdown to make the score 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, OSU redshirt senior wide receiver Rhewa Munyagi Jr. caught the five-yard touchdown pass to make the score 21-0. The touchdown pass from Uiagalelei to Munyagi was the first touchdown and reception of Munyagi’s OSU career.
Following Munyagi’s touchdown, junior wide receiver Silas Bolden caught a 65-yard punt return and scored a touchdown to make the score 28-0, giving the Beavers two touchdowns in the first five minutes of the second quarter.
The Beavers further extended their lead with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Bolden to make the score 35-0 in the second quarter. On the next possession by OSU, redshirt sophomore Atticus Sappington kicked a 40-yard field goal to make the score 38-0 headed into halftime.
At the start of the second half, the Beavers brought in freshman quarterback Aidan Chiles to relieve Uiagalelei at quarterback.
Chiles, in his first drive in front of Beaver Nation, led the Beavers offense down the field and set up a 28-yard field goal from Sappington to make the score 41-0 in the third quarter.
The Beavers added to their lead with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Chiles to tight end Riley Sharp to make the score 48-0. Chiles’ touchdown pass to Sharp was his first career touchdown at OSU and the first touchdown for Sharp, who started playing the tight-end position this season.
OSU has a mix of veterans and young up-and-coming players on the team like Chiles. Hodgins noted that the dynamic between these players is similar to a father-son relationship at times when the veterans on the team watch the younger players at work.
Chiles extended the lead for the Beavers in the fourth quarter on a one-yard rushing touchdown to make the score 55-0. The Aggies had yet to score a touchdown or field goal throughout most of the game.
In an unusual in-game announcement in the fourth quarter, the referees threatened a penalty against OSU if the stadium announcers would not stop playing OSU’s hallmark chainsaw noise when UC Davis’ offense was on the field during 3rd downs.
“We are not trying to be disrespectful to anyone; that’s just kind of our thing,” Hodgins said of the referees threatening to penalize OSU for the third down chainsaw noise.
Aggies sophomore quarterback Grant Harper put UC Davis on the scoreboard with a nine-yard receiving touchdown to wide receiver CJ Hutton to make the score 55-7 with five minutes left in the game to avoid a shutout.
“It’s good seeing those guys go out and execute the game plan, and yeah, obviously, we want to keep the board at zero, but to see the young guys fly around and play like there isn’t a huge drop-off, that’s what we want to see from those guys,” Hodgins said.
Despite giving up a touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Beavers defense held the UC Davis Aggies offense to 169 yards, and the defense had three sacks, 12 tackles for loss, an interception and a forced fumble in the game.
“I think for us just sticking to our rush plan making sure it all sticks together…we missed a lot of sacks up front at San Jose State, so it was good to see us get some today and kind of make that up,” said redshirt senior Issac Hodgins on the team acting on their game plan for the defense to get the ball and quarterback.
Following the game, Smith was pleased with the performance of his team and praised the preparation of his team prior to playing an FCS opponent like UC Davis.
“Now we’ve got great leadership; it doesn’t take much from the coaches to move this team,” said Beaver football coach Jonathan Smith.
Smith also added that there are still plenty of things for the team to work on headed into next week.
Smith mentioned that wide receiver Anthony Gould did not play against UC Davis due to injury, and Smith is hopeful of his return to play next week. Gould sustained an undisclosed injury in practice and was held out against the Aggies.
Up next, the Beavers finish out non-conference play against San Diego State University Aztecs. Kick-off is set for 12:30 p.m. at Reser Stadium, and the game will broadcast on FS1.
