The tale of two halves, one where Boise State could do little wrong during the first two quarters, yet seemed stalled during most of the second half, left Harsin to harp on a single word.
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To force a catalyst heading into the second half, Oregon State head coach Gary Andersen threw walk-on quarterback Conor Blount into the fire, replacing Garretson, but even the excitement of a promising debut wasn’t enough for the Beavers.
The Beavers scored 10 points in the third quarter to cut Boise State’s lead to 31-17, but Darren Lee recovered an Oregon State fumble for a touchdown with 3:33 left to put Boise State back up 38-17. “I thought they wanted to continue to complete; it mattered to them a lot, which is a good thing to see”.
Early in the second quarter, Bright Ugwoegbu’s recovery of a Boise State botched snap put the Beavers offense in prime possession for a score with the ball at its own 49. “We’re in this thing to win and that’s the bottom line and we did not get that done today”.
A 41-yard field goal by Garrett Owens and suddenly it was a 31-17 game.
Both teams scored on their opening drive, as Oregon State (1-2) tied the score, 7-7, on a 14-yard run by Ryan Nall.
Boise State took a 14-7 lead in the first quarter on two touchdown runs by McNichols.
The Broncos promptly drove 73 yards in 10 plays, capped by a 6-yard scoring run by Jeremy McNichols.
McNichols did most of his damage in the first half, as the junior running back ran for 146 yards and touchdowns of 5, 6 and 70 yards, and caught a 6-yard scoring pass.
“It’s pretty simple: execution”. OSU never got closer than 14 points in the second half in a game they desperately needed to win for validation.
“It could be a big play out of nowhere, so with guys like that you’ve just got to find a way to get him the ball … and we will, and he knows it”, quarterback Darell Garretson said.
Two games in, and Oregon State’s decision to hire former Utah State DC Kevin Clune has been a success.
Colling has since moved to received and Darrell Garretson has taken over under center, completing 57 percent of his throws for 400 yards and three touchdowns for the 1-1 Beavers.
It was Boise State’s first win in four tries at Oregon State.
“We’ve just got to play faster at the beginning of the game and it will be a different outcome”, he said. Now starting quarterback Brett Rypien and the Boise State Broncos look to remain undefeated as they hit the road and head west to face a regional cross-conference rival today.
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Boise State’s Akilian Butler races past Oregon State defenders in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016. Defensively, Oregon State football is yielding 18.5 points per game against the opposing team.
