5 takeaways from No. 19 Oregon State Beavers' big win against No. 10 Utah Utes
Oregon State’s football team beat Utah 21-7 at home Friday at Reser Stadium.
With the victory, the No. 19 Beavers are 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-12 this season.
The No. 10 Utes are now 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
Oregon State is back on the road next week at California.
But first, here are five takeaways from the Beavers’ win against Utah.
1: DJ Uiagalelei overall was decent
Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei had a decent game against a strong Utah defense.
He went 14 of 25 for 204 yards, one touchdown and one bad interception late when the Beavers had the game in hand.
He also rushed six times for 18 yards.
Uiagalelei’s interceptions are starting to be a real concern.
He’s had four interceptions in the past three games.
This time it didn’t hurt them, but it did last week at Washington State.
Backup quarterback Aidan Chiles got some work in for the Beavers.
Chiles went 1 for 1 for 23 yards, but was pressured heavily and lost 14 yards on the ground.
2: Silas Bolden has big-time performance
Oregon State receiver Silas Bolden had a big game in multiple ways.
Bolden was targeted eight times, and had six catches for 100 yards and a touchdown.
He also had two carries for 53 yards and a touchdown.
That creativity and big-play performance was key against a Utah defense that came into the game as the best in the Pac-12.
West Salem graduate Anthony Gould has shown his ability to make big plays this season too.
Both will be key as the Beavers’ schedule doesn’t get any easier this season in a loaded Pac-12.
3: Beavers’ running game does enough
Utah came in allowing 51 rushing yards per game, and the Beavers put up 131 and two touchdowns.
Oregon State wasn’t able to do on the ground what it normally does, but that’s true for anybody that plays the Utes.
The Beavers used some creativity, like with Bolden, to get enough yards and scores to win the game.
Outside of Bolden, Damien Martinez had 65 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
Deshaun Fenwick, though, had six carries for 1 yard.
Uiagalelei chipped in 18 yards.
As a team, the Beavers averaged 3.6 yards per carry, but it was enough to win.
4: Oregon State’s defense bounces back
The Beavers’ defense was humbled last week in the 38-35 loss at Washington State.
This week they needed to have a strong performance against a low-scoring team with a backup quarterback.
Oregon State held Utah to 198 yards of total offense, including just 57 yards on the ground.
The Beavers had three sacks and forced a turnover.
The defense was pitching a shutout until 5:05 left in the game.
It was a dominating performance when they needed it most.
5: Beavers’ overall outlook
This game is one Oregon State really needed.
Coming off the loss last week, the Beavers couldn’t fall to 0-2 in the conference.
For one, that would have pretty much taken them out of the conference title race.
Secondly, things could have quickly snowballed this season had they lost to Utah.
The Utes came in ranked 10th in the nation, but they are a team with a backup quarterback that struggles to score. And they were on the road at Reser Stadium.
These are the games the Beavers must win to continue to grow as a program.
And credit Oregon State, it was a dominating win.
The Beavers outgained Utah 398 yards to 198.
Oregon State next plays at California, which is one of the worst teams in the conference, at 7 p.m. Oct. 7.
After that, the Beavers are back home Oct. 14 against UCLA, which should be another fun one at Reser Stadium.
Statesman Journal reporter Pete Martini covers college and high school sports. He can be reached at pmartini@StatesmanJournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Takeaways from Oregon State Beavers football's win against Utah Utes
