Oregon State football came off of their bye week only to be bested by San Jose State in Reser stadium, Corvallis on Saturday afternoon, continuing their loss streak to four.

“We have to be able to win with four (on the line), but we didn’t today,” head coach Trent Bray said. 

The Beavers offense was led by junior Ben Gulbranson, a starting quarterback Beaver Nation hadn’t seen yet, instead of junior Gevani McCoy, the usual starter. 

Gulbranson showed he was more than up to the task to step in, with his first pass being a 38-yard completion down the middle to senior Jermian Terry II.

The Beavers appeared to have a touchdown in hand on their first drive after forcing a three-and-out punt from the Spartans. However, the drive was cut short by a fumble from running back Anthony Hankerson, who has had some struggles with ball security in recent games.

Both offenses could not get any points on the board until the second quarter, the Beavers making the first score a field goal. On their following drive, the Beavers started to let the ball fly with more aggressive pass plays.

Spartan’s quarterback Eget Walker found two back-to-pass deep passes to two different receivers to answer back with their scoring drive. A 40-yard completion to senior Justin Lockhart and a 36-yard touchdown pass to senior Nick Nash.

“He’s (Nick Nash) a good player, he makes good plays,” defensive back Jaden Robinson said. 

The Beavers failed to pressure the quarterback, allowing Walker to have 258 yards through the air, while the team only gained 17 yards rushing the entire first half.

After the Spartans kicked a field goal to make the score 10-3, the Beavers found some late success in the half where Hankerson was able to right his early game fumble with a rumbling 10-yard rushing touchdown with 30 seconds left to go in the half, tying the game.

The Spartans got the ball back with seconds remaining in the half and opted to kick a field goal, but it was the Beavers who had the last laugh by blocking the attempt to keep the game tied going into halftime.

The Beavers opened the second half by taking the lead with a field goal. The Spartans were on the way to another touchdown to answer, but the Beavers defense put a stop to Walker’s air raid with an interception in the endzone by freshman Salisa Vadrawale III.

The Beavers drove all the way to the Spartan’s five-yard line but turned over the ball on downs attempting for the touchdown.

Both teams were continuing to have problems with penalties on the following drive. 

Pass interference calls from both teams would render the Spartan’s offense neutral, and then even negative after an unsportsmanlike conduct call on one of their assistant coaches, which forced them to punt the ball to the Beavers.

As time went on, the Spartans ahead, Gulbranson threw a pick-six to Spartan’s defensive back, DJ Harvey, to give them the lead. The Beavers would once again turn the ball over on fourth down.

The Spartans took the opportunity to extend their new lead to 24-13 with an 11-yard rushing touchdown run by junior running back Floyd Chalk IV.

The Beavers attempted to drive down the field, but ended up throwing another interception on the Spartans five-yard line. San Jose State then ran the clock out.

“I gotta start hitting throws in the strike zone and red zone. A Lot of that is on me,” Gulbranson said.

The Beavers next matchup will come up against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado at 12:30 pm on Saturday.