5 takeaways from Oregon State football's season-opening win at San Jose State

Oregon State’s football team opened the season strong Sunday with a 42-17 win at San Jose State.

The No. 18 Beavers played well on both sides of the ball, as they began head coach Jonathan Smith’s sixth season with the victory.

Oregon State will now shift its focus to Saturday’s home opener at 6 p.m. Saturday against UC Davis at Reser Stadium.

Here are five takeaways from the Beavers’ win against San Jose State.

1: Beavers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei sharp in opener

DJ Uiagalelei looked sharp and in control from the beginning Sunday in his first game for Oregon State after transferring from Clemson.

In the first half, Uiagalelei accounted for three touchdowns — two on the ground and one in the air — to lead the Beavers to a 21-3 halftime lead.

Both of his first-half touchdown runs were 1 yard carries at the goal line, where he used his 6-foot-4, 252-pound size to get into the end zone.

He efficiently passed the ball in the first half, completing 9 of 11 passes for 107 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jack Velling.

Uiagalelei finished 20 of 25 for 239 yards and three touchdowns, along with the two touchdown runs.

2: Running attack stellar as usual

The rushing game is still the bread and butter of Oregon State’s offense, and they showed that Sunday.

The Beavers as a team had 197 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry.

Damien Martinez had a big game, with 18 carries for 145 yards.

Deshaun Fenwick had 33 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.

And with Uiagalelei’s size and strength, he adds another dimension to the running game in short yardage, especially at the goal line.

3: Pass rush limited, by design

It’s tough to get a consistent pass rush against a mobile quarterback, such as San Jose State’s Chevan Cordeiro.

The Beavers front-7 mostly played it safe to contain Cordeiro, who had four runs of at least 20 yards against USC.

However, late in the game they did get to Cordeiro for a couple sacks, including forcing him to lose a fumble. They also sacked backup quarterback Jay Butterfield once late in the game. Oregon State linebacker John McCartan had two of the sacks.

They limited Cordeiro to 18 of 32 passing for 143 yards, and 26 rushing yards.

In this quarterback-heavy Pac-12 Conference, however, Oregon State will need to apply consistent pressure.

This is something to continue to watch throughout this season.

4: Lots of receivers involved

Oregon State had nine players catch passes, showing the team’s ability to spread the ball around.

West Salem graduate Anthony Gould led the Beavers with 59 receiving yards and had a touchdown.

Silas Bolden led the team in receptions with six, for 53 yards.

Jeremiah Noga and Velling also had touchdown catches for Oregon State.

5: No turnovers for the Beavers

One of the things that really hurt Oregon State last season, especially in losses to USC and Utah, were turnovers.

The Beavers had four interceptions in the 17-14 loss to USC, and four interceptions in the 42-16 loss to Utah.

The turnovers were a big liability.

But on Sunday, the Beavers had no turnovers at San Jose State.

The upgrade of Uiagalelei is a big reason for that.

He was in control and took care of the ball.

The Beavers did have a punt blocked, which isn’t good, but Oregon State absolutely is a contender in the Pac-12 title race if they limit their turnovers this season, and Sunday was a great start.

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 football's victory at San Jose State