SEATTLE – Oregon State could barely find a way to move the ball, much less score. The Beavers had been shut down by California and Washington State in back-to-back weeks, managing just one touchdown in their last eight quarters.
Washington, meanwhile, had allowed just three touchdowns in its last 11 quarters. The Huskies had stood up to USC’s offense, shut down Arizona and stopped UCLA for three quarters.
A mismatch, right?
Maybe on paper, but the reality was a lot more painful for the Washington defense. From the start, Oregon State’s veteran offensive line pushed around the Husky defensive front and receiver Sammie Stroughter consistently found holes in the UW secondary.
The result was a 488-yard day in the Beavers 27-17 victory Saturday, the most total yardage Washington allowed all season.
“There were a lot of mental things that happened,” strong safety C.J. Wallace said. “They weren’t more physical than us, it was just something mentally that happened with us and we weren’t on the same page.”
Some might argue that OSU was more physical than the Huskies. Washington struggled to take down running back Yvenson Bernard from the start and the junior running back gained 144 yards on 29 carries, often running through tackles and carrying Husky defenders with him. A Beavers offensive line that had five returning starters from a year ago also kept the UW off quarterback Matt Moore who has been struggling simply to keep his job. Coming into the game, Moore was completing 57.7 percent of his passes but was ninth in the Pac-10 in yards (156.4 a game) and had just four touchdowns.
But given time against the Huskies, the senior picked apart the UW secondary – which ranked last in the conference in pass defense – going 14-for-19 for 308 yards, his most yards since Oct. 30, 2005.
“He did a great job,” OSU coach Mike Riley said. “He overall just played very, very solid. I thought his poise was great, he seemed to make good decisions, he really competed.”
Moore was aware that Beavers fans were calling for him to be replaced by redshirt freshman Sean Canfield, but he said he didn’t worry about it during the game.
“I obviously felt it but I just kind of shrugged it off,” Moore said. “It’s going to be there every week so you just have to keep playing.”
Of course, it helped that Moore had Stroughter on his side. The junior had seven catches for 223 yards, including his first touchdown of the season on an 80-yard pass play in which he was left wide open on the right sideline.
“It was a great pickup on the blitz by the line, and I think they just picked up their safety tremendously when he blitzed,” Riley said of the touchdown. “Matt stood in there and made a big play and it was a big catch by Sammie.”
Washington defensive coordinator Kent Baer said it was just a matter of his unit being outplayed.
“We didn’t play well at all,” Baer said. “My hat’s off to Oregon State. They outplayed us today. I’m not going to say it’s a step back. … We’ll bounce back. It’s a matter of pride.”
Things don’t get easier for the defense, though, as it will go against one of the nation’s top offensive teams in California next week. The Golden Bears have scored at least 40 points in five of their last six games and quarterback Nate Longshore is one of the nation’s top passers.
“Eleven guys are going to play pass defense and we all need to improve,” linebacker Scott White said. “It starts with the front and we have to get better across the board.”
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