OSU Football takes loss from Arizona in conference opener

Arizona wide receiver Shun Brown runs the football after catching a pass from quarterback Khalil Tate. Brown had three receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown on the day.

The Oregon State Beavers hosted the Arizona Wildcats this afternoon in the first Pac-12 game of the season. In what was an offensive field day for Arizona, the Beavers lost their conference opener 14-35.

OSU kept it close early as the the score remained 7-14 at halftime, but Arizona’s offense took over after that point. Overall, the Beavers defense allowed 594 total yards, 29 first downs and five touchdowns by the end of the game.

“At halftime at that point it’s anyone’s game, we knew we needed to do better on offense in the second quarter and we didn’t do that,” OSU senior wide receiver Timmy Hernandez said.

One highlight from the Beavers performance was an agile catch-and-run from Hernandez to score a 25-yard touchdown. Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Conor Blount, who threw the pass, had 137 yards and two scores through the air but was also sacked three times.

“They (Arizona) executed well. There was a few throws that I’d like to have back but that’s football,” Blount said. “Nothing is perfect, we just have to be better all around and if we do that we could be in good shape.”

OSU’s main problem was containing Arizona’s redshirt-sophomore running back J.J.Taylor who rushed for 284 yards and two touchdowns on the day. Additionally, the Beavers had a chance to ignite a comeback when they marched into the red zone late in the third quarter, but committed two penalties sending them to third and 27 and were forced to punt.

“We’ve got to be able to execute for long periods of time,” OSU Head Coach Jonathan Smith said. “It was a long drive, we had to get to the end to finish and we went backwards.”

Oregon State will be heading to Arizona State next Saturday to take on the Sun Devils, kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

 

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