To turn it around, Beavers have to snap to it

Senior running back Anthony Hankerson rushed for 136 yards, but special teams miscues were costly in Oregon State’s 36-27 loss to Fresno State (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU sports communications)

CORVALLIS — Long snappers are a lot like umpires or referees. You don’t notice them much until they screw things up.

Boy, did Oregon State’s long snappers get a lot of attention Saturday at Reser Stadium.

Jackson Robertson and Will Haverland combined to deliver six errant long snaps — three on punt plays, two on PATs and one on a field-goal try — as OSU fell to Fresno State 36-27 in a torturous affair for all of Beaver Nation.

There were other issues for the Beavers, but crappy snapping took center stage. It was hard to keep track of them, there were so many. Poor special-teams play, you say? This was the Holy Grail.

“Special teams, f—ing joke,” OSU coach Trent Bray was moved to say in an interview with broadcaster Nigel Burton on CW. And that was at halftime.

Robertson and Haverland were called into duty in the absence of regular snapper Dylan Black, who watched the game from the sidelines with a heavy wrap around his right hand. (Bray doesn’t address such things, but instinct tells me a right hand injury kept Black out of action.)

Robertson, a redshirt sophomore from South Medford High, was the starting long snapper last season as Black sat out while recovering from surgery and treatment for testicular cancer. Robertson looked like a rookie in his college debut Saturday, sending two snaps over the head of holder A.J. Winsor on PAT attempts and a third over Winsor, who doubles as the team’s punter.

On in relief of Robertson came Haverland, who really was a rookie in his college debut. The redshirt sophomore from Sheldon High, a reserve linebacker, lowballed his first snap to Winsor, who did a nice job of handling it and allowing Caleb Ojeda to convert a 27-yard field goal. Haverland followed with a pair of snaps on punt plays that went over Winsor’s head, the second one leading to a Fresno State touchdown and a 20-15 lead in the third quarter.

The latter was a play to behold, one that was SportsCenter bottom-ten-plays material. The snap was actually decent, and it appeared that Winsor should have caught it, but it went through his hands and bounced back toward Oregon State’s goal. Rather than fall on the ball or try to pick it up and position himself for a punt, he took a Garo Ypremian swipe at it, kicking it on the ground. The ball rolled six yards beyond the line of scrimmage, where Fresno State’s Jaden Carrillo picked it up and raced 42 yards for the score.

Robertson returned to long snapping duty in the fourth quarter as the Beavers set up for a 40-yard field-goal attempt that would have drawn them within 26-24. The snap dribbled back to Winsor, who managed to get ball down for Ojeda to kick, but the attempt was no good.

Bray said that the Beavers beat themselves in a 34-15 loss to California in last weekend’s season opener, but he had a better case Saturday. They held a huge advantage in first downs (29-15), total yardage (528-318), passing yardage (388-121), offensive plays (83-46) and time of possession (37:25 to 22:35). Given all that, it was a crime that they lost the game.

“We outperformed (the Bulldogs) in every category except one, and that’s the only one that mattered,” Bray told the media afterward. “We gave them the game. We spotted them 21 points on blunders. We just killed ourselves with special teams play. They put a bunch of points on the board that shouldn’t have been on the board. It’s unfortunate.”

In his second game as a Beaver, junior quarterback Maalik Murphy, the Duke transfer, completed 31 of 48 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns. Taz Reddicks (11 catches, 158 yards) and Trent Walker (seven for 99) had big receiving games and Anthony Hankerson carried 25 times for 136 yards.

Oregon State had an epic drive to start the third quarter, moving 75 yards in 18 plays and chewing up 11 minutes and 16 seconds of clock. Murphy’s four-yard pass to fullback Jake Reichle produced the touchdown that gave the Beavers — who overcame three penalties, two of them major, in the possession — a 21-20 lead with only 3:44 left in the period.

It was tight the rest of the way. After a Fresno State three-and-out and punt, the Beavers took the ball on their 32-yard Lin trailing 26-21 with 2:08 remaining in the game. They moved 68 yards in six plays in less than a minute, capped by David Wells’ scintillating 34-yard TD reception to go ahead 27-26 with 1:13 left.

The Dean of Portland Sports is now on BlueSky.

“That should have been it,” Bray said. “I expected us to go out there and shut them down.”

But Fresno State QB E.J. Warner — son of Hall-of-Famer Kurt — coolly marched the Bulldogs into field-goal range, scrambling for first-down runs of 11 and 16 yards. Dylan Lynch’s 42-yard field goal pushed Fresno State ahead 29-27 with 44 seconds left.

Said Bray: “Disappointing. We let the quarterback run all the way down (the field).”

Murphy came back with a 19-yard pass to Reddicks for a first down at the OSU 38. On the next play, Jakari Embry stepped in front of a sideline pass intended for Reddicks and flew 45 yards to paydirt to up the margin to 36-27 with four seconds to play.

Oregon State had 10 penalties — seven of them in the second half — for 70 yards. Six times the Beavers were flagged for false start violations.

“We were pretty clean procedurally the first game,” Bray said. “We were not today.”

The OSU defense had a lot of good moments, but also allowed the Bulldogs to score twice on long runs — Warner for 30 yards for the game’s first TD just 2:36 into the game, then Rayshon Luke for 44 yards in the second quarter.

Murphy missed a wide-open Walker on a 2-point conversion attempt and threw an interception with the Beavers in Fresno State territory late in the first half.

“Today was a calamity of self-inflicted wounds that we couldn’t recover from,” Bray said. “Almost did, but couldn’t.”

Ojeda struggled with his kickoffs and the Beavers with their return coverage. The Bulldogs had Carrillo’s 42-yard punt return for a TD and returned five kickoffs for a 38.6-yard average.

“There is no call for it,” Bray said. “We have to do a better job all-around on special teams. It’s coaches, it’s players and everybody.”

But especially the long snappers. Bray said the coaches knew “early in the week” that Black would not be available. That left the job to Robertson, who was not up to the challenge.

“Jackson has done a nice job for all last year,” Bray said. “It was a complete out-of-the-blue bad situation.”

After the third botched snap, “we had to do something,” Bray said. Special teams coach Jamie Christian brought on Haverland, a 6-5, 240-pound redshirt sophomore who hadn’t snapped since his time at Sheldon High.

Bray said both Robertson and Haverland practiced snapping extensively during the week.

“With Dylan’s injury, we had to make sure we had a backup ready,” the coach said.

Then Armageddon hit. Haverland wasn’t ready, either.

“You can’t anticipate those things happening,” Bray said. “We were hoping to get Will ready for the long term. He did the best he could being called on short notice. Not his fault at all. He was thrown into an unfortunate situation.”

Bray indicated Black won’t return, at least in the short term.

“We are going to have to get Jackson back,” the OSU coach said. “It is a head-space thing, and we have to get Will ready to roll and put him in situations (in practice) where he has pressure so he learns how to perform in it.”

I have a couple of ideas. How about veteran center Van Wells, who handles shotgun snaps on most of Oregon State’s offensive plays?

“He hasn’t been a deep snapper,” Bray said, evidently discarding the idea. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Sure, it’s a longer snap on punts and placekicking. But Wells has played several college seasons as a starting center and is used to the pressures of snapping. I’ll bet he could handle it competently.

Failing that, have open tryouts on campus on Monday. In 60 years watching football at the high school and college levels, I have never seen such snapping inefficiency as I did Saturday. I’m not saying it is easy. But among 30,000 students, you ought to be able to find someone who can do it better.

Bray could use some help with decision-making, too. Late in the first half, Oregon State led 15-14 and, after a Fresno State punt, had the ball at its 37 with two timeouts remaining, 1:47 on the clock and momentum on its side. Instead of putting the ball in the air and going for another score before halftime, the Beavers dawdled. One-yard run. Two-yard pass. On fourth-and-one, they had back-to-back false start penalties, followed by the bad snap and ill-fated punt that led to a Bulldog return for a TD before intermission.

When I asked Bray about it, he said, “You’re trying to end the half with the ball. That’s the strategy there. You don’t want to give the ball back to Fresno State.”

But the OSU offense was at least showing signs of clicking. The Beavers were playing at home against a team they should be able to beat. The proper mentality would be, “We’re going to be aggressive and build our lead before halftime,” instead of playing not to lose.

There were certainly some positives. The offensive line opened some nice holes for Hankerson and backup Salahadin Allah (four carries, 28 yards). Murphy showed his arm strength and mostly made good decisions.

“I was very happy with the progression Maalik made,” Bray said. “His week one to week two was what we were looking for. He moved the ball, threw the ball well and trusted the offense. The production was there. He did a nice job moving the ball and putting points on the board, and that should have been a win.”

Soon after the game ended, Oregon State issued a statement by Bray about the profanity in his halftime comments: "I want to sincerely apologize for my language at halftime on live TV. I let my emotions get the best of me, and that word should never have been said. I know Beaver Nation, kids and families were watching, and you expect and deserve better from me. I take full responsibility and will work to ensure I set the right example moving forward."

Asked about it during his post-game media session, Bray said, “I talk a certain way. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, I talk like I’m talking to a friend. I have to grow as a head coach and understand on national TV, I can’t say that.”

There is no question that frustration is gripping those within the Oregon State program, including Bray, who has now lost eight of his last nine games dating to last year’s 4-1 start. More defeats are almost certainly around the corner against nationally ranked teams on the road — Texas Tech next Saturday and Oregon on Sept. 20 — in a schedule that is heavily front-loaded.

“I don’t think that’s going to be hard for the guys,” Bray said. “We have to stop killing ourselves. We have kept ourselves from winning. For us to be the team we’re capable of being, we have to eliminate those things. If we don’t, it will continue to look like this.”

It has been a tumultuous start to Bray’s second season as OSU’s head coach. Exodus Ayers, his best cornerback, has missed both games, evidently because of charges of domestic physical abuse by an ex-girlfriend, though Bray won’t address the issue publicly. Injuries kept Black, starting safety Tyrice Ivy and starting offensive tackle Jacob Strand out of action Saturday. Starting defensive end Kai Wallin missed most of the game after suffering an undisclosed injury early.

Now is the time for a calm head to be in charge. Bray, who has distinguished himself as an excellent defensive coordinator and linebacker coach through the years, needs to be that guy. Players will take their cues from him this week and next, along with his assistants. They will need to keep attitudes positive and develop game plans that can work against two of the nation’s best teams.

The OSU offense should be able to move the ball against most defenses. The OSU defense has some good pieces but needs to improve its consistency and, of course, the pass rush. There has to be more pressure on the quarterback. Through two games, the Beavers — last in the nation a year ago in sacks — have zero.

The Red Raiders and Ducks are not teams to get well against. Oregon State’s mission is simple. Compete, clean up the mistakes, improve on technique, keep a positive attitude and survive the next two weeks. There will still plenty of time for successes before the end of the season.

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