On Senior night, Anthony Gordon threw for 606 yards on 50 of
70 passing and 6 touchdowns, but it was the 2-yard run by sophomore tailback
Max Borghi with 2 seconds remaining that gave the Cougs the 1-point victory
over the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday night.
Both the Beavers and the Cougs came into this game looking
for one more win to make them bowl eligible.
The Cougs were looking to extend their school streak of 4 in a row where
the Beavers were looking to get back into bowl eligibility after a 6 year
absence.
Anthony Gordon has ran into some issues in the red-zone the
past 5 games throwing interceptions instead of getting scores. In their first possession, the Cougs drove
down to the OSU 19 yard line before Gordon was intercepted at the 1-yard line
by the Beavers’ John McCartan. The
Cougar defense took over and let the beavers drive 99 yards in 4 plays to give
the Beavers the early 7-0 lead. In that
drive OSU had 3 rushes for 92-yards including a 54- yard touchdown run by
Jermar Jefferson. The Cougars bend but
don’t break mentality was out the window on that drive, but the Cougs got it
together as the game moved on by not allowing the big play as frequently.
The Cougs were able to tie the game up with 2:17 left in the
first when Gordon found senior Dezmon Patmon for the 12-yard dive for the pile
on. After trading scores back and forth,
the Cougs took their first lead of the game on a 35-yard Gordon to Deon
McIntosh Touchdown pass to put the Cougs up 21-14 with 4:51 remaining in the
half. Jake Luton and the Beavers
answered that with a 7 play drive concluding in a Noah Togiai 18-yard touchdown
catch in the corner of the end-zone to tie the game at 21. Beavers were able to tack on a field goal
before half to give them a 24-21 lead going into the locker room.
Early in the 4th quarter, the Cougs held a
commanding 42-32 lead after a 1-yard Max Borghi touchdown run. That is when things started to get
interesting in Martin Stadium. In 2:20, the beavers drove down the field in 6
plays. Jermer Jefferson ran it in from
the 5-yard line to pull the Beavs within 3 with 7:32 to play in the game. The Beavers kicker Jordan Choukair kicked an
unexpected onside kick that bounced off Cougar Justus Rogers shins and into the
arms of Andre Bodden for the Beavs. The
Beavers used 3 plays and a 39-yard screen pass from Luton to Jefferson once
again giving the beavers back the lead at 46-42 with 6:45 remaining. On the following Cougar possession Gordon’s
first pass deflected off the hand of Max Borghi and into the hands of defender
Omar Speights at the Cougar 27-yard line with a chance to finish off the
Cougs. Luton found Jefferson again for
the 2-yard touchdown with 4:17 remaining to now put the Beavers up 46-42. The Cougs went from a 10-point lead to an
11-point deficit in 6 minutes of game time.
Under coach Leach, the Cougar mentality has been that the
game is never over. Gordon knew what he
had to do, and knew he had enough time to do it. He drove the Cougs to the goal line in 7
plays and found Patmon in the back of the end zone for the 14-yard touchdown
snag to pull the Cougs within 5 after the missed 2-point conversion. The Beavs then had 2:10 to work with after
the Cougs’ failed on-side kick. The
Cougs held the Beavers to only 6 yards and on 4th and 4, Luton’s
pass to Quitoriano was overthrown, and Wazzu had 1:10 from their own 42-yard
line to win the game. Gordon drove the Cougs
down in 10 plays and with 4 seconds and no time-outs, Gordon handed off
to Borghi to pick up the 2-yard touchdown as the Cougs escaped in a wild
one.
This is one of the wildest games Coug fans have seen at
Martin Stadium, and they came out on the winning end this time. “It was a really wild game, I was proud of
our guys for being tough enough to stick in there,” Mike Leach said after the
game. “We created a lot of adversity for
ourselves, and were able to claw our way out of it.” The Cougs go on to the Apple Cup next week
and look to end a 6-year skid against the Huskies. The Huskies are coming off a disappointing
loss to the Colorado Buffaloes where they were only able to muster 33-yards on
the ground which is a positive since the Cougs give a lot up via the run. The Apple Cup kicks off at 1 pm on Saturday
on KFFX FOX 11.
