Oregon State football: 5 takeaways from the Beavers' win at California
Oregon State’s football team beat California 52-40 on the road Saturday at California Memorial Stadium.
With the victory, the No. 15 Beavers are 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-12 this season. The Bears are now 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
Oregon State is back at home next week against UCLA at Reser Stadium.
But first, here are five takeaways from the Beavers’ win.
1: Stellar quarterback play
Both DJ Uiagalelei and Aidan Chiles played Saturday, and both were great.
Uiagalelei was 19 of 25 for 275 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.
In recent games, Uiagalelei had struggled with his accuracy and was prone to throwing interceptions. But against Cal, he had his best game as a Beaver.
He completed 76% of his passes and was able to get the ball into the end zone.
His favorite target near the goal line was tight end Jack Velling, with whom he connected for three touchdown passes.
Chiles in limited action went 2 for 2 for 21 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.
In a tight win against the Bears, the Beavers’ quarterbacks made the difference.
2: Spreading the ball in the passing game
Oregon State had nine players catch passes Saturday, for a total of 296 yards.
Having so many options will make the Beavers’ passing game difficult to stop.
West Salem graduate Anthony Gould led all Oregon State receivers with seven catches for 117 yards. Velling had four catches for 38 yards and the three scores.
Silas Bolden had three catches for 34 yards and a touchdown, and Jesiah Irish had two catches for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Then, Jeremiah Noga, Damien Martinez, Deshaun Fenwick, Jermaine Terry II and Isaac Hodgins all had one catch, Hodgins’ for a touchdown.
3: Defensive struggles for the Beavers
Oregon State’s defense doesn’t travel well on the road.
After getting torched by Washington State quarterback Cam Ward a couple weeks ago, the Beavers’ defense had another rough game at Cal.
The Bears put up 448 total yards and 40 points against Oregon State, and 241 of the yards were on the ground.
Cal averaged 7.3 yards per carry.
This could be a bad sign considering Oregon State still has to play Washington and Oregon, which have two of the best offenses in the country.
4: Miscues were costly for Oregon State
Oregon State decided to go for an onside kick early in the game after it took a 14-0 lead.
It backfired.
Cal recovered it, giving the Bears a short field, and they turned it into a touchdown.
On the following possession, the Beavers fumbled, setting up another Cal touchdown.
The Bears didn’t have quite enough firepower on both sides of the ball to make those mistakes the deciding factor. But against teams like UCLA, Washington and Oregon, the Beavers might not be as lucky.
5: Overall impressions
The Beavers once again struggled on the road, but credit them for finding a way to win.
Oregon State needs to get some things figured out on defense.
They looked bad at Washington State and Cal. They looked decent against Utah, but the Utes’ offense is a mess.
Oregon State has six games left — home against UCLA, at Arizona, at Colorado, home against Stanford, home against Washington and at Oregon.
The Beavers will be a clear favorite against Stanford, but the other five games will be battles.
Oregon State will need to fix its defense and find a way to use Saturday’s great passing attack to stabilize the passing game moving forward.
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: Oregon State football: 5 takeaways from the Beavers' win at California
