One day I'll visit Corvallis. It will be an autumn weekend, so the leaves will be changing as I enjoy a morning walk in the hills. If time allows I'll visit one of the local vineyards or wander into a bookstore. But with every step I take in that small college town, I'll be thinking of the game that will have brought me there. No matter how strong the Stanford team might be, no matter the quality of the Oregon State squad, I'll be worried.
It's never easy when Stanford travels to play the Beavers in Corvallis, not even back during the glory days of last decade. Even though the Cardinal hasn't lost to Oregon State since Andrew Luck's first season at quarterback, several of the wins have been narrow, and at least one (a 15-14 Stanford win in 2017) undeserved. (By the way, I just read my recap of that game, and three years later it still gave me anxiety. Serious anxiety.)
Considering all that, even though it was surprising when Stanford won the toss and David Shaw decided to defer for just the second time in ten years, it wasn't terribly surprising that the Beavers marched 75 yards for an opening touchdown. Stanford's recent improvement has been much more about the offense than the defense, and with a few key members missing on that side of the ball, there had been concern about the Oregon State attack, particularly tailback Jermar Jefferson, the Beavers' best player. On this opening drive he carried seven times for 37 yards and generally looked unstoppable. If you'd told me at the time that we'd already seen almost half of Jefferson's production for the entire game (he'd finish with 80 yards on 18 carries), I'd never have believed it.
But the Beaver back who would give the Cardinal defense the most trouble throughout the night would not be Jefferson, but linebacker Jack Colletto. (You read that right -- linebacker.) On 4th and 2 from the Oregon State 45 on that opening drive, Stanford was introduced to all 238 pounds of Colletto. He took the direct snap from the wildcat position and pounded ahead for eight yards. He'd carry the ball three more times in the game, all on 3rd and short, and he'd convert each time with yards to spare. He'd finish the night with 32 yards on four carries. (If you're so inclined, you can send a quick thank you card to Oregon State Jonathan Smith for only putting him on the field four times.)
Cardinal fans might have been concerned after that first drive, but the Stanford offense came out for their first possession of the game and wasted little time in introducing Austin Jones to the Oregon State defense. Jones gained eight yards on 1st down and nine yards on 2nd, and just that was enough to open things up for quarterback Davis Mills and the Stanford passing game. Even with Michael Wilson, Connor Wedington, and Osiris St. Brown sidelined, the Stanford receiving corps was still able to demonstrate its depth in the early going, as Mills targeted three different wide receivers while marching quickly down the field.
Two of the biggest chunks went in the direction of Simi Fehoko, who is probably the most talented player in a talented group of wide receivers. After the game, Shaw shared that Fehoko had taken on a leadership role during the week in the absence of Wilson and Wedington, and he led with his play on Saturday night. His 4.3 speed has always made Fehoko a deep threat (he averaged 23.6 yards per catch last season), but he showcased his skill on this drive. He used his 6'4" frame to shield his defender as he gained 13 yards on a slant to convert a 3rd and 3, and then he showed his athleticism as he hurdled a defender for the final few yards of a 12-yard gain to move the Cardinal to the Oregon State 12. Fehoko would finish the game with six catches for 110 yards, both career highs.
Since they'd already proved they could do all the conventional things, the Cardinal got tricky on the next play as Mills dropped a short screen pass to tight end Tucker Fisk, the heaviest eligible receiver on the Stanford roster. (During the Great Offensive Line Purge of 2019, he even took practice reps at guard.) Fisk caught the ball at the line of scrimmage, then used his 278 pounds to rumble through a few attempted tackles on his way to the end zone. The extra point was botched, but the Cardinal had pulled to within one at 7-6, and the offense looked good.
The game stayed right there as the teams traded punts for the rest of the quarter, but the Beavers got going again early in the second. On 1st and 10 from his own 12, quarterback Chance Nolan dropped back and heaved the ball to Tre'Shaun Harrison for a 61-yard gain. Harrison had gotten past safety Noah Williams and was so wide open that he had time to stop, kneel down to tie his shoes, and write a thank you note to the Stanford defense before the ball came down into his arms. More concerning than the sixty-one yards gained was that the play was the continuation of a concerning trend with the Stanford defense. In every game this year the Cardinal has yielded at least one chunk play like this, often the result of blown coverages or missed assignments. Things like this happen from time to time even to the best of defenses, but with a unit that struggles to get off the field, the big plays are even more troubling.
The Beavers scored three plays later to earn a 14-6 lead, and it was beginning to look like every other game I've ever seen the Cardinal play in Corvallis.
But the Stanford defense recovered, forcing three punts over the rest of the second quarter and allowing Jet Toner to get the Cardinal a bit closer with a 47-yard field goal. A quick note on Toner -- after his nightmarish season opener against Oregon when he missed four field goals, Toner has been automatic. He's hit seven straight field goals over the past four weeks, and most of those seven would've been good even if the goal posts had been six feet wide instead of eighteen. It's been nice to see.
In the rare position of starting the second half with the offense out on the field, the Cardinal looked to come out of the locker room and do something about its 14-9 halftime deficit. There were two key plays on the drive. Facing a 3rd and 9 from his own 42, Mills couldn't locate any of his primary targets and was forced to drop it off to Austin Jones in the flat. As good as Jones has been running the ball, his pass catching ability has been just as impressive, giving him a combination of skills that will make him one of the best running backs in the nation next year. (With all eyes on Jefferson, Jones was the best back on the field, finishing with 126 yards rushing on 22 carries.) On this play he caught the pass at the line of scrimmage and beat the defender in front of him to get to the 1st down marker. It wasn't spectacular; it was the type of play that every running back should make, but it was a huge play to keep the drive alive.
On the very next play, offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard decided to get fancy, and he sent in a trick play. Mills handed the ball to Jones, who then pivoted and flipped it back to Mills for the classic flea flicker that we all ran when we were kids playing touch football in the street. It never worked for us, but it worked like a charm here. Fehoko had gotten past both his man and the safety who had come to help, and Mills's pass was perfect. Fehoko the Flash caught it inside the 5, and rolled into the end zone for an apparent touchdown. The replay caught his knee down at the 1, but it didn't matter. Mills called his own number and followed his offensive line into the end zone on the next play. The Cardinal had its first lead of the game at 16-14.
Oregon State matched that score with a touchdown of their own to jump back in front at 21-16, but when the teams traded punts the Cardinal had another opportunity to get back in the game. The offense took over at its own 10 with 4:13 to play in the third quarter and commenced its longest drive of the night. Jones was the workhorse, piling up 44 yards rushing on the series, but it was Mills who closed things out. First it was a nice touch pass to Elijah Higgins for eighteen yards to the OSU 13, and then after a seven-yard pass to Fehoko, Mills rolled out to his right and ended up keeping the ball himself for a six-yard touchdown and his second rushing score of the night. The two-point conversion on a pass to fullback Houston Heimuli, the second heaviest eligible receiver on the roster, gave the Cardinal a 24-21 lead.
The Beavers followed that with a field goal to tie the score, and when the Cardinal got the ball back at their own 17 with 7:12 to play, Stanford fans everywhere thought back to the previous week when the Cardinal offense had burned the final 7:47 of the fourth quarter with a game-clinching drive. Something like that would do just fine here.
While that drive in Seattle had been slow and methodical, this one was aided by a big strike. After burning three minutes off the clock with a variety of runs and short passes, Mills dropped back on 2nd and 10 from his own 45 and lofted a ball deep down the left sideline towards John Humphreys. He was blanketed by defensive back Alex Austin (my wife's former student at Long Beach Poly), so even though Humphreys was able to get to the ball first, it came loose as he was going down for an apparent incompletion. Afterwards Shaw admitted to looking down at his play sheet to find a 3rd down play as soon as he saw the ball pop into the air, so he didn't see it fall back down into Humphreys's arms as he laid on his back. It was one of the more improbable receptions you'll ever see, and the Cardinal was in business at the Oregon State 25.
With the clock getting closer to two minutes left and the Cardinal getting closer to the goal line, it seemed like we weren't seeing just a repeat of the previous week's performance, we were seeing a return to normalcy for the Stanford offense. On consecutive weeks, with the outcome in doubt, Shaw and Pritchard had put the game in the hands of the offensive line, and they had delivered. As they lined up on 3rd and 1 at the OSU 16, I'm certain even the most optimistic Beaver fans expected Jones to plough ahead for another 1st down that would force Coach Smith to start burning timeouts. The game was essentially over.
But everything changed when tight end Scooter Harrington flinched on the line of scrimmage, drawing a flag that pushed the Cardinal back five yards into 3rd and 6. Mills's pass fell incomplete, so when Toner nailed the ensuing 39-yard field goal, Stanford led 27-24, but the Beavers still had a hundred and eight seconds and three timeouts to work with.
I was already concerned, but when Toner's kickoff went out of bounds to give Oregon State dangerous field position at the 35, I was almost ready to concede the field goal. The Beavers moved the ball far too easily to the Stanford 35, and when Chance Nolan dropped back to pass on 2nd and 10, I was not just a little bit nervous. Nolan's first look was covered, and so was his second. When the pocket began to collapse, he slipped through a gap in the line and headed up field looking for the 1st down marker. But as he hesitated and seemed to prepare for one final move to dive towards the line to gain, linebacker Gabe Reid climbed on his back and punched the ball loose. The pigskin bounded out into open space where senior Curtis Robinson scooped it up and clinched the game for the Cardinal.
Just another night in Corvallis.
Stanford's 27-24 win over the Beavers was more than just their third straight victory. Yes, they were above .500 for the first time since the first week of 2019, and yes, they remained undefeated on the odyssey that had taken them from Berkeley to Seattle to Corvallis. Coming after the statement win over the Huskies, this game was a validation, a hard-fought victory that built confidence in the locker room and optimism in the fan base.
This season hasn't been what anyone anywhere could've expected, and like almost every team in the nation, the Cardinal has suffered. Through it all, though, they've persevered. One game left to play.