3 Things We Learned From Oregon State's Week Two Win Over San Diego State
The Oregon State Beavers took a trip to San Diego State this past weekend and headed back to Corvallis with a 21-0 win. Once again the Beavers leaned heavily on the run game with great success, a strategy heavily observed in the Week One victory as well. Now at 2-0, we know even more about the kind of team Trent Bray's squad is becoming.
Here's what we learned about the Beavers from their first road shutout win in nearly fifty years.
Long Possessions Are A Good Look
The Beavers' dominated the time of possesion battle on Saturday, holding the ball for 41 minutes. They now lead FBS in time of possession per game. Against the Aztecs, the Beavs also had four drives of four minutes of more. 237 yards on the ground certainly helped, in that department.
Hayes Has To Bounce Back After Two Misses
Placekicker Everett Hayes missed both of his field goal attempts on Saturday from 38 and 54 yards. The 54-yarder is an understandable miss, but overall, accuracy has been an issue with Hayes in previous seasons, prior to Hayes handling kickoffs exclusively last season. To state the obvious, points are better than no points, but it's also important to keep Hayes' confidence up as the season progresses.
Nikko Taylor Coming Into His Own
Through the first two games of the season, the senior outside linebacker has six tackles, two sacks, and three tackles for loss. He also has a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. Taylor had just two tackles last season after transferring from Hutchinson Community College, but appears to have his feet under him now with the Beavs.
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JOE LONDERGAN
Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.