3 takeaways from Oregon State's 42-37 loss to Nevada

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As the Oregon State football team (4-2) fell to Nevada (3-4) on Saturday afternoon, BeaversEdge takes three lessons from the loss…

The Achilles heel of this Oregon State defense continues to stop the running game of opposing offenses.

I think it's pretty telling how bad the Beavers were against the run, as Nevada quarterback Brenden Lewis had 151 yards rushing yards, one rushing touchdown and just 51 passing yards. Nevada tore through the Beavers' defensive front for four quarters, and it showed as the Beavers allowed a first down on nearly every single play by the Wolf Pack.

Oregon State not only ran Lewis all over the Beavers' defense, but also gave up 132 yards and four touchdowns to running back Savion Red, who scored the bulk of the points for Nevada tonight.

As a unit, it's pretty telling that the Beavers only allowed 69 passing yards and 353 rushing yards. Nevada could have easily passed the ball against the Beavers and escaped without a pass in this game.

You can probably put it down to injuries, but that's part of the game. The Beavers don't have the personnel to stop the run. If you have to sign Andy Alfieri, your backup tight end, to play defensive end, that's not a good sign against any team, no matter the situation.

Oregon State has a defensive problem stopping the run and there doesn't appear to be a solution to that problem at this time. Last week, head coach Trent Bray said the poor run defense was not a schematic problem, but a technical one.

Against the Wolfpack, however, it seemed like the Beavers were outsmarted and schemed, considering how many yards they gave up on the ground, and no one was even close to Lewis or Red taking them down on first contact could bring.

As Oregon State's run defense continues the rest of its schedule, something needs to change quickly. Otherwise, similar performances can be expected against running backs like Jayden Ott and Ashton Jeanty. Defensive coordinator Keith Heyward may need to change his play-calling on defense and operate on the sidelines instead of in the press box because something needs to change on defense, especially with the run.

It's a pretty simple football intuition that if you lose the turnover battle in a football game, your chances of winning go down significantly.

Oregon State had four turnovers against the Wolf Pack, all of which came from quarterback Gevani McCoy. While some of these aren't necessarily to blame, like the interception on the game-ending Hail Mary attempt and the pass that got out of Bryce Caufield's hands, McCoy's performance certainly wasn't a fault considering the Beavers' offensive output also helps things .

Although Oregon State's offense was effective on the ground when it had to play from behind and pass the ball, resulting in self-inflicted errors, McCoy's other two interceptions were either poor results or he was put under too much pressure by the Nevada defense.

McCoy works best as a quarterback when he can move the ball with his legs and you can get the ball to his playmakers in space. What he doesn't do so well, however, is that he's forced to stay in the pocket and make throws across the field to an open target because he lacks the arm strength to make those throws.

While it's easy to be critical of McCoy, and rightly so, the loss isn't his alone either, and he doesn't look entirely healthy considering what's happening to his finger. He didn't look 100% tonight and should have been taken out of the game to avoid the risk of further injury if he really wasn't healthy.

To their credit, however, Nevada's defense played a great game and made McCoy uncomfortable by keeping his favorite target, Trent Walker, away for most of the game.

While there are no moral victories in football like “you play to win the game,” as former Arizona State and NFL head coach Herm Edwards said.

If you're Oregon State, you have to be pretty comfortable with the state's current running game without Jam Griffin. Griffin was unavailable for this weekend's game against Nevada due to a lower leg injury he suffered in the Beavers' win over Colorado State last week.

In his absence, however, Anthony Hankerson became a standout for the Beavers with 154 yards and three rushing touchdowns on 28 carries. Hankerson's first career start for the Beavers showed that the Beavers will continue to have success in the running game even with injuries in the running back room.

Even though the Beavers have to abandon the running game, they showed that Jermaine Terry continues to be an indispensable weapon in the passing game. Terry followed up his strong performance against Colorado State with five catches for 94 yards against the Wolfpack; Offensive coordinator Ryan Gunderson appears to be relying more on Jermaine Terry in the passing game, and it has worked in the Beavers' favor when he is targeted.

Despite the road loss to Nevada, there are some positives to take away from this game. This Oregon State team is far from complete. Although the offense improved, it lost what made it successful against teams like Purdue and Colorado State.

For the most part, McCoy played no role in the running attack. He was primarily asked to throw from the pocket, which we didn't see much of in the first few weeks of the season. I'm all for protecting McCoy as a runner, but if you have a quarterback who thrives in the RPO and pitch game, why not take advantage of that?

Maybe that could have been what Nevada presented them with based on the defensive formation, but the Beavers were still able to accumulate 214 yards on the ground when they ran the ball. Gunderson may be a first-time playcaller, but he still hasn't done enough to utilize his weapons on the offensive side of the ball. The fact that McCoy wasn't 100 percent either tells me that the Beavers won't be able to pull off games like this in the future if things aren't perfect on offense.