The JaMarcus Shephard era opened with a loss for Oregon State, but this one looked nothing like the kind of flat performance the Beavers have been turning in too often.
Against No. 23 Houston on Saturday afternoon at TDECU Stadium, OSU took punches early, absorbed a 20-point run, and still kept coming. Braden Atkinson threw for 376 yards and a touchdown, and the Beavers stitched together back-to-back scoring drives late to pull within a touchdown before the Cougars closed it out, 33-20.
That was the difference in this one: Houston made the final decisive throws, while Oregon State showed enough fight to make a rout into a real game.
Houston got on the board first when Conner Weigman hit Amare Thomas on a 31-yard touchdown, with the play helped along by a missed tackle attempt from Drake Vickers. Oregon State answered immediately. Atkinson connected with Jesse Legree on a 71-yard bomb, the Beavers’ longest completion in nearly three years, then finished the drive himself with a three-yard touchdown run to put OSU in front 7-6 with 6:17 left in the first quarter.
That lead didn’t last long. Jonathan Dimas put Houston back ahead with a 42-yard field goal on the next possession.
From there, the Cougars started to separate. After an Oregon State stop, the Beavers couldn’t cash in on a chance to retake control and went three-and-out. Houston followed with a 56-yard scoring run from Re’Shaun Sanford II, then added another Dimas field goal from 32 yards to take a 19-7 lead into halftime.
The margin grew again in the third quarter when former Oregon running back Makhi Hughes finished a nine-play, 74-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run, pushing Houston out to 26-7 with 6:40 left in the period.
But Oregon State kept answering. On third-and-15 from its own 6, Atkinson found Cynai Thomas for 28 yards. What looked like a failed fourth-down conversion was wiped out by a Houston penalty for 12 men on the field, and Atkinson then hit Legree for a seven-yard touchdown to keep the Beavers alive.
Houston still had chances to put the game away, but Sailasa Vadrawale III intercepted Weigman after the Cougars had driven back into the red zone.
That gave OSU another opening, and Atkinson took it. He went 4 of 6 on the next drive, including a pair of completions to tight end Eric Olsen for 45 yards, before AJ Newberry punched in a four-yard score to make it 26-20 with 9:02 remaining.
The Beavers had momentum and a chance to flip the afternoon. Instead, Weigman answered.
He converted a pair of second-and-longs, then found Thomas on a 37-yard strike on third-and-six with 6:21 left. Three plays later, he was in the end zone, and Houston had the finish it needed.
Oregon State still has plenty to clean up, especially tackling, which showed up repeatedly on Houston’s big plays. But the Beavers also showed something they’ve lacked: real fight.
In Other News...
Indiana Looked Like A Top 10 Team From The Start
Saturdays opening weekend gave the college football rankings plenty to sort through, but a few teams wasted no time making their case. Ohio State rolled past Ball State behind big days from Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin, Indiana handled North Texas with a balanced showing in its opener, and Alabama looked sharp in a comfortable win over East Carolina as Keelon Russell made his first start.
For Oregon State, though, the early conversation already feels a little more complicated after Houston came away with a 33-20 win. The Beavers had enough offense to stay in the game, but the result left them in the position so many teams face in September: trying to figure out what a tough opener says about the bigger picture, and how much of that first impression can still be reshaped before the schedule gets more demanding. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon States Loss Raised A Bigger Concern Than The Final Score
Houstons 33-20 win over Oregon State at TDECU Stadium looked like a straightforward early-season result on the scoreboard, but Willie Fritz spent his postgame time talking about the details that tend to decide whether a team can really sustain success. The head coach pointed to the running game, some uneven tackling, and a few key moments that swung field position and momentum, including a sack by Javion White and a late big play from Amare Thomas.
For a team still sorting out what it is defensively and where the offense can be more consistent, those are the kinds of issues that matter beyond one loss. Fritz also mentioned individual performances and areas that need to improve, which is usually the sign of a coach trying to separate fixable mistakes from broader concerns. In other words, the final score was only part of the story, and not necessarily the biggest part. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon State Left Houston With One Worry Fans Will Feel Fast
Oregon State left TDECU Stadium with a loss to No. 23 Houston, 33-20, but the larger concern for the Beavers came after the game when JaMarcus Shephard started sorting through the aftermath. The coach reviewed a performance that had some encouraging elements, including turnovers and leadership from Braden Atkinson, while also pointing to the areas that kept the Beavers from turning a competitive night into a better result.
The immediate follow-up now sits on the injury front, where Oregon State has to wait for clarity on a couple of players after a physical night in Houston. At the same time, Shephard was blunt about the football itself, saying the Beavers have work to do in tackling and on third- and fourth-down execution if they want to make the most of the positives they did bring home. [Read more 🡒]