WSU vs. Oregon State final score: Turnovers doom the Cougars, Beavers prevail 19-6

The No. 14 Oregon State Beavers defeated the Washington State Cougars, 19-6, at Reser Stadium in Corvallis on Saturday. Both offense had trouble getting going, but OSU ultimately did enough to escape with a win. WSU had its opportunities, but made too many mistakes to come away with an upset victory.

The Cougar offense struggled all day. First, with starting quarterback Connor Halliday, who ended up throwing three interception on 20 pass attempts. The offense showed more rhythm with Jeff Tuel in the game, but the results weren't much better, as WSU put up just three points in the second half.

Tuel came in to replace Halliday in the second quarter. Halliday came back out for the second half, but threw a pick on the first drive. That was when Leach went back to the senior for the remainder of the game.

The most important drive of the game came on Oregon State's first possession of the second half. The Beavers drove for a touchdown on a 12-yard strike from Sean Mannion to Markus Wheaton that put the Beavers up 13-3. That effectively put the game out of reach with the way the WSU offense was playing.

Washington State's defense performed admirably, even when put in tough positions after turnovers by the offense. Oregon State was given the ball in Cougar territory after an interception on three occasions, and came away with no points on both trips (the last one was a kneel down).

The Cougars showed some life in the fourth quarter when they drove 72 yards for a 32-yard Andrew Furney field goal, his second of the game. Unfortunately, the Beavers marched right back down the field on the ensuing possession to go up 19-6 with 4:27 remaining after a 1-yard touchdown run from Tyler Anderson.

WSU drove into Oregon State territory on the ensuing drive, but Tuel was intercepted by Jordan Poyer. The pick was Poyer's third of the game and the Cougars' fifth turnover.

Like always, Cougar fans are left looking for positives after a loss. The defense played their best game of the season, but the offense sputtered and gave the ball away repeatedly. This WSU team isn't good enough to win games in the Pac-12 without playing well on both sides of the ball, especially on the road against a ranked team.

The Beavers move to 4-0 on the season, and 3-0 in Pac-12 play. The Cougars fall to 2-4, and have now lost three-straight to begin their conference schedule.