The Sam Houston State Bearkats entered Corvallis Saturday night as one of two remaining winless football teams in the FBS. 

After the game, there’s only one left. 

Despite leading 17-0 midway through the second quarter, the Oregon State University football team fell 21-17 to the Bearkats at Reser Stadium in the Beavers’ senior night and final home game of 2025. 

With the loss, Oregon State drops to 2-8 on the season while the Bearkats advance to 1-8. 

“I’m disappointed,” Beavers Interim Head Coach Robb Akey said to open his postgame press conference. “I feel sick to my stomach for our seniors.” 

Despite the final score, the Beavers tripled the Bearkats in offensive yardage, 474-157, with senior running back Anthony Hankerson alone outgaining Sam Houston with a season-high 166 rushing yards. 

“Yards don’t create – don’t give you points,” Akey said. 

Senior safety Skyler Thomas said the Beavers still took Sam Houston seriously despite the Bearkats’ 0-8 record ahead of the game. 

“This is a very important game, of course,” he said. “The reason it was a very important game for us was because it was the next game. So we prepared for (Sam Houston) the same way we prepared Oregon, Texas Tech, Washington State.” 

Hankerson led the Beavers to an early 10-0 lead, marking the first time the Beavers have scored twice in the first quarter in 2025. Each of the running back’s first three carries went for over 10 yards, and he capped the team’s opening drive with a two-yard touchdown. 

Sam Houston, starting backup quarterback Mabrey Mettauer following an injury to starter Hunter Watson the previous week, struggled to create offense in the first half. Mettauer was eventually benched in the third quarter for freshman Landyn Locke. 

Despite a fumble from Oregon State wide receiver Trent Walker that gave Sam Houston the ball on OSU’s 11 yard line to end the first quarter, the Beaver defense held to start the second. Bearkats kicker Christian Pavon missed a 29-yard field goal to maintain Oregon State’s lead. 

The failed kick would be the first of four on the night, with Pavon and Oregon State’s Caleb Ojeda each missing two to go a combined one of five. 

“Football games play 60 minutes,” Thomas said. “All three phases – so if we don’t take care of all three phases at the end of the game, we’re most likely not going to come up with the W.”

Hankerson would strike again in the second quarter, bouncing off defenders for a 13-yard touchdown to put the Beavers up 17-0 – the most Oregon State has scored in a first half all season. 

It would also mark the Beavers’ last points of the game. 

“Wanted to try to start fast, and we did start fast,” Akey said. “But the key to that … you need to maintain throughout, and then you’ve got to finish strong. And we didn’t maintain.” 

Beavers quarterback Gabarri Johnson completed 17 of 18 passes for 145 yards in the first half, but his one incompletion was an interception – a ball that bounced off the hands of tight Bryce Caufield in the final two minutes of the half. 

With the ball on the OSU 35-yard line, Mettauer threw his lone touchdown pass of the game, completing a deep ball to wide receiver Chris Reed with 1:19 remaining to bring the score to 17-7. 

The Beavers had a chance before halftime to respond, setting up Ojeda for a 42-yarder that was tipped and no good with zeroes remaining on the clock. 

“They had a tall guy jump and he got a hand on the ball,” Akey said. 

The Beavers’ two-score lead only lasted seconds into the second half. Following offsetting penalties on the opening kickoff of the third quarter, the Beavers re-kicked the ball to Sam Houston returner Tim Burns Jr., who found a lane and scored a 98-yard touchdown. 

“That one really irritated me,” Akey said. “We had a guy that had the opportunity to be able to make a play there, and then we had a couple guys that, if they fill the lane the proper way, if they react the proper way … it would not have been that big of a return.” 

Back with the ball, the Beavers opened up the second half much like the first, with Hankerson gaining 32 yards on his first two rushes. But the drive ended with another Ojeda miss, from 46 yards out. 

The Beavers would suffer from special teams miscues again midway through the fourth quarter, with Sam Houston blocking an A.J. Winsor punt. Bearkats defensive end Brody Henderson returned it 29 yards for a touchdown, giving Sam Houston its first lead of the game: the eventual final score of 21-17. 

Oregon State would gain three more chances to score after the blocked punt. The first was the following drive, which ended with a fourth-down drop from Hankerson inside the Sam Houston 10-yard line. 

The next Beaver drive ended with under two minutes left on the clock when Johnson threw his second interception of the night at the Sam Houston 21-yard line. 

“It was pretty frustrating because we all know that we’re better than that,” Johnson said after the game. 

However, Oregon State defender Sailasa Vadrawale III intercepted the ball right back for the Beavers, giving his team a final chance on senior night. Down four points on the Sam Houston 28-yard line, the Beavers had 1:23 left on the game clock to score the go-ahead touchdown. 

However, following a short pass, an incompletion, and a two-yard scramble from Johnson, the Beavers were left with a fourth and five with 35 seconds remaining. Johnson dropped back and attempted a tight-window throw to Walker that was broken up by the Bearkats’ Cecil Powell. 

“We tried like hell to create some opportunities,”Akey said. “But we weren’t, obviously, able to close.” 

Sam Houston regained the ball after the turnover on downs and kneeled out the clock to win its first game of the season. 

For the Beavers, it snapped a two-game winning streak and marked Akey’s first loss as interim head coach. 

Johnson finished the game with 29 completions on 42 attempts, passing for 286 yards and two interceptions. His top target was redshirt sophomore receiver David Wells Jr., who caught nine passes for 112 yards. 

Hankerson entered the game as the 15th leading rusher in university history with 1,885 yards over his two years as a Beaver. Against Sam Houston, he surpassed the 2,000-yard mark and now ranks 13th on the leaderboard.

“Asked everybody to come out and see these seniors play their last game here,” Akey said. “This is a big deal, and I know it’s a big deal to our fans, too. They wanted to see those guys play well and win the damn game.” 

The Beavers still have two chances to win remaining in their 2025 season, with road games on Nov. 15 and 29 at The University of Tulsa and Washington State University, respectively. 

“You know the message, keep our heads up,” Thomas said. “But again, we got two more opportunities. So tomorrow we’ll be looking to correct whatever it was for the game and move on.”

Akey also looked forward to the Beavers’ next matchup. 

“Sorry about that one,” he said to close his press conference. “Stick with us, though – I’m telling you. We’ll have fun in Oklahoma.”