After one quarter of play, the Oregon State Beavers lead the Washington State Cougars by a score of 3-0.
The Beavers got on the board with a 30-yard field goal by Trevor Romaine that was set up by a 32-yard, third down completion from Sean Mannion to Brandin Cooks in which the receiver found the soft spot in what appeared to be a cover two.
The Cougar defense, though, has played very well outside of that one third down conversion. Following a Connor Halliday interception in WSU territory on the second drive of the game, the D stopped OSU on a fourth down attempt to keep the Beavers from scoring again.
After another three-and-out by the Cougar offense, the defense again came up big. After giving up some chunks on the ground as OSU drove deep into Cougar territory, WSU forced a pair of negative running plays to set up a third and long on which they forced Mannion into an interception by Deone Bucannon.
Meanwhile, the WSU offense has struggled mightily. Halliday has already thrown that interception, on which he forced the ball to a covered player as Gabe Marks sat in the zone with nobody within 10 yards of him and clear path to a first down. And most of his other passes have been off, too.
Halliday, who is now 5-of-10 for just 9 yards, ended the first quarter by converting a third and long from near his own goal line. Maybe that can provide some momentum heading into the second quarter.