In his first career start, Nick Montana came out and looked as though he might be able to use a conservative game plan to lead the Huskies to victory. A large dose of running back Chris Polk and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins had Washington ahead after their first possession. As has been the case all season, the good feelings lasted only as long as it took for the Husky defense to take the field. The much-maligned group was victimized by Oregon State and quickly gave up the tying touchdown.
Montana never looked comfortable behind center. He had trouble getting the ball outside to his wide receivers. On only his second attempt to connect with a wide out, he threw a pick which led to the Beavers second score. To Montana's credit, he bounced back riding Chris Polk's runs and roll out passes to Seferian-Jenkins. Montana found the talented freshman tight end for their second touchdown and evened the score at 14.
The Beavers took advantage of the Huskies' inability to get off the field on third down and eventually added a field goal to take the lead into half-time.
Washington's defense came out in the second half and forced the Beavers to punt on their first possession. A huge positive for a unit that had done little well to that point. Unfortunately, the offense was unable to capitalize, committing a holding penalty and putting Montana into an uncomfortable third and long.
Oregon State marched down the field and converted a fourth and seven inside Husky territory. Sean Parker saved the Dawgs with an interception of a Sean Mannion pass at the Washington five yard line. At this point it seemed that Sarkisian decided to let Montana take a few shots. Montana unsuccessfully threw deep to Kasen Williams. A few plays later the red-shirt freshman went back down field to a wide open Seferian-Jenkins but the ball bounced off the body of the tight end and yet another opportunity of the Huskies went by the wayside.
The Beavers turned the ball over to the Huskies again on their next drive. This time a fumble recovered in OSU territory. Washington moved the ball into field goal range but the usually reliable Erik Folk missed badly to the right and the trend of missed opportunities continued.
Sean Mannion and the Beavers settled down and took care of the football as they converted third down opportunities and took big chunks of yardage at a time. Jovon Stevenson capped off the drive with his first touchdown of the day.
The Huskies still had some hope with 11:53 left in the fourth. The Husky fans that made the trip to Corvalis had to be looking for some Montana magic that Nick's father, Joe, was famous for. The only trick the young Montana had up his sleeve was making the ball disappear from his grasp. The Beavers recovered and quickly added another Stevenson touchdown.
With the Beavers in command, Sarkisian pulled Montana and put in an injured Keith Price. The change seemed to spark the Huskies as Price led the Dawgs down the field for a Kevin Aguilar touchdown reception. The ensuing kick off resulted in another Beaver turnover and it looked like the Huskies were right back in the game. However on the very next play, Price threw the ball right back to the Beavers. This missed opportunity was the coup de gras.
Oregon State took the ball 99 yards down the field and Stevenson earned his third touchdown of the game and sealed the deal for Beavers.
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