Oregon State hoping to bounce back at Arizona State
First-year head coach Jonathan Smith’s goals for Oregon State this season aren’t overly lofty, particularly for a program that hasn’t had a winning record since 2013.
One very important goal, which had been achieved over the course of the Beavers’ first three games, did not get met in last week’s 35-14 home loss to Arizona: showing improvement.
“We didn’t take a step forward,” Smith said Monday in his weekly press conference. “We learn from it … and we move on to our next challenge. This league continues to bring challenges.”
The next such challenge comes Saturday when OSU (1-3, 0-1 Pac-12) travels to Arizona State (2-2, 0-1) for a 10 p.m. ET kickoff.
The Beavers will be trying to snap a pair of lengthy losing streaks. They have not beaten an FBS opponent since November 2016, a span of 14 games, and their 21-game road skid is the longest active streak in the nation.
One area in which OSU must improve in order to get back into the win column is how it starts games. Arizona scored on the opening possession, a week after Nevada built a 30-7 halftime lead in what ended up being a 37-35 outcome.
Take away the Southern Utah game, and the Beavers have been outscored 86-42 in the first half this season.
“We want to start fast in every game, but some games it’s not going to be what you want,” Smith said.
“Just as important is fixing a run defense that was shredded for 442 yards (8.7 per carry) by Arizona. OSU is allowing 280.3 rushing yards per game and 6.48 yards per carry, which rank fourth- and third-worst (respectively) in FBS.
ASU ran a season-high 40 times last week in a 27-20 loss at Washington and figures to take to the ground quite a bit against the Beavers.
“We’ve got to shore up some things,” Smith said, noting poor tackling as a big factor. “We’ve just got to be in the proper spot and get them down. They’re going to try to run the ball.”