What led to Oregon State football's head-scratching loss to UNLV

CORVALLIS — For the second week in a row, Oregon State traversed its way through a chaotic, back-and-forth game and found itself in position to complete a comeback on the final play of regulation.

And for the second week in a row, the Beavers came up short.

Oregon State fell to UNLV, 33-25, Saturday at Reser Stadium and dropped to 4-3 on the year. The injury-ravaged Beavers were short-handed on both sides of the ball once again and suffered from a plethora of uncharacteristic mistakes.

Still, they had the ball at the UNLV 6-yard line with one second left in regulation and a chance to tie the game.

Gevani McCoy's pass to Jermaine Terry II fell incomplete, though, and the Rebels escaped with a win to improve to 6-1.

Here are three takeaways from the Beavers' head-scratching home loss and what it means for OSU moving forward.

If last week's road loss to Nevada was a reality check for the Beavers, Saturday was a blunt reminder that things might not be changing anytime soon.

The Beavers are a bit of a rudderless ship at the moment. Injuries and inconsistency have dented what once looked like a promising season.

"I liked the way they battled, never had a question about that," Oregon State coach Trent Bray said of his players. "But we've gotta eliminate the self-inflicted things that are costing us the last couple of weeks."

The fact of the matter is, though, the Beavers are in the midst of an injury crisis. They were missing at least eight rotation players on defense against the Rebels. Near the end of the third quarter, star safety Skyler Thomas — the heart and soul of OSU's defense — got dinged up and had to leave the game temporarily. Offensively, they were without star running back Jam Griffin and several other key contributors.

There are certain facets of the game in which the Beavers are severely out-classed in terms of talent and physicality at the moment.

"Our only option is to respond," Oregon State safety Jack Kane said. "You've gotta get tougher. (Bray) always harps on us that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result."

Bray and defensive coordinator Keith Heyward made it abundantly clear during their weekly press conferences that injuries weren't an excuse for the poor performance the Beavers' defense showcased during the loss to Nevada.

For all that went wrong on Saturday, OSU still flashed some positives on that side of the ball.

Up against a UNLV squad that owned the No. 5 rushing offense in the country, the Beavers surrendered just 188 yards on the ground — 74 fewer than the Rebels' season average.

"I thought they were definitely more sound," Bray said of Oregon State's run defense. "We've got to continue to get better. But I thought there was improvement in that area, which was good to see. We've gotta keep growing, though."

On UNLV's first two drives of the night, the Beavers stood tall in the red zone and produced back-to-back "bend, don't break" moments to get the Rebels' offense off the field and force a pair of field goal attempts.

UNLV came to life toward the end of the first half and ripped off a long touchdown drive, then capitalized on a blocked Oregon State punt and cashed in some strong position for a field goal at the end of the half.

Once the fourth quarter rolled, UNLV began to lean into its vaunted option game and picked apart the Beavers by attacking them on the edges.

"I think people started getting too relaxed," Kane said of OSU's fourth-quarter struggles. "Not understanding that they're a really good team. UNLV is a really good team. Every game is gonna be a dogfight. If you let off the gas, that's what happens out there. It starts with the older guys — we've just got to set the standard for the younger guys."

There wasn't a single Oregon State offensive position group that came out of Saturday's loss looking particularly good.

"We turned the ball over down there, gave (UNLV) the ball in scoring position," Bray said. "Didn't protect like we normally protect. Gave up sacks. Stuff that shouldn't happen that we could have control over."

Strong offensive line play has been a hallmark of Oregon State teams for the past half-decade.

On Saturday, though, the Beavers struggled to move the ball with any consistency as their offensive line was bullied. OSU tallied a season-low 137 rushing yards and McCoy was sacked six times.

"They're good. Their pass-rushers just got home," Bray said of UNLV's defense. "We've gotta be on our work all the time against a good team. We can't have those lapses and that's what it was."

McCoy made his fair share of mistakes, without a doubt. But his receivers also failed to create separation far too often, and they dropped several balls in pivotal moments.

"We've got to come back tomorrow hungry," Oregon State receiver Trent Walker said. "It's still a long season. We've still got a lot of games to play. We can't let this make it worse."

Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at [email protected] or on X@jarrid_denney