Extra effort. Sometimes it can reward you with that key touchdown, that key first down. And sometimes, it can, well, go completely wrong.
That’s the position that Oregon State receiver Darrell Catchings found himself in last night against Stanford.
With Oregon State down 36-28 to Stanford and driving towards what could’ve been a tying score, Catchings caught a pass from Lyle Moevao and ran down the left sideline towards the end zone. In trying to stretch the ball out to get that final yard, the ball was knocked away, and bounded into the end zone. That was where he wanted it to go, but he would’ve much preferred it still be in his possession, and not a touchback.
Those who want to slate Catchings for having stretched the ball out, feel free to do so, but with the thought that if he had gotten it over the goal line, and the Beavers had gotten the tying two-point conversion and went on to win the game, praises for that extra effort would be endless.
Besides, the decisive part of the game was not that single play, not by any means. There were multiple parts of the game that Mike Riley would like to have back, but he might point to a pivotal stretch in the third and fourth quarter where the game really slipped away from the Beavers.
Time: 3:42 left in the third quarter. Score: Oregon State 20, Stanford 20.
Stanford had just tied the game up on a 42-yard field goal by Aaron Zagory, countering a field goal that OSU had gotten on their previous drive. That’s when the Beavers, as harsh as it may sound, lost the game. A holding penalty on the kickoff put them at the 15, and a sack and a inaccurate backwards pass later, Stanford had a safety and a 22-20 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
On the next drive, the Beavers had a 15-yard face mask and a pass interference penalty that made it all the easier for the Cardinal to punch it in and go up 29-20 early in the 4th.
Then, on the ensuing drive, OSU drove down to the Stanford 23 and looked to be going in for a score when a pass was tipped and intercepted to put an end to the rally.
After stopping Stanford, Moevao promptly threw a second straight interception, which Bo McNally returned 34 yards for what would be a decisive score.
Time: 9:36 left in the fourth quarter. Score: Stanford 36, Oregon State 20.
So, in less than ten minutes (well, 97 in real time), a close game was blown open.
To their credit, the Beavers rallied, got a touchdown and a two-point conversion to make it 36-28, and got in position to tie it up in the final minutes, before Catchings‘ fumble, which, as you can see, wasn‘t the only costly mistake/missed opportunity for the Beavers.
All in all, it was an exciting game, with a lot more offense than I expected. Oregon State actually out-gained Stanford 490-301, with Moevao throwing for 404 yards and three touchdowns.
However, two interceptions, the fumble (the only one of five that was turned over), the safety, and 12 penalties - along with the inability to stop the deceivingly fast Toby Gerhart, who ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns - mean that it’s Stanford who start their season with a big Pac-10 win, and not Oregon State.
Let’s put that in the lessons learned and not to be repeated vault, shall we?
This turned out to be my only incorrect prediction from Thursday night’s schedule. Not a surprise, since it might have been the biggest toss-up. And, as it turned out, it was the best game of the night, as I thought it would be. Still, 13 of 14 isn’t bad.
