Beavers defense shines in 2OT win over Colorado State
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Anthony Hankerson ran for a career-high 113 yards and two scores that included a 25-yard touchdown run in the second overtime, and Oregon State stopped Colorado State twice on fourth-and-goal to end it for a 39-31 victory over Colorado State on Saturday night.
On the final possession of the game, Colorado State had fourth-and-goal from the 10. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi threw the ball out of the end zone, but a pass interference call gave the Rams a new set of downs from the 2.
The Beavers then stopped the Rams three times and a penalty helped make it fourth-and-goal from the 11. This time Fowler-Nicolosi's fade pass to Tory Horton in the corner of the end zone was knocked away.
Oregon State improves to 4-1 for the second consecutive season and for third time since 2021.
Quarterback Gevani McCoy ran for 91 yards and three touchdowns for Oregon State (4-1). He finished 16-of-28 passing and threw one interception.
Fowler-Nicolosi was 20-of-30 passing for 263 yards and threw two touchdown passes for Colorado State (2-3), which trailed 21-10 early in the fourth quarter. Avery Morrow carried the ball 25 times for 140 yards and scored once. Horton made nine catches for 158 yards with a touchdown.
McCoy, on fourth-and-2 from the Colorado State 9, took the snap and ran to his right and was briefly stopped at the 3 before slipping through three defenders into the end zone to put the Beavers up 21-10 to open the fourth quarter.
Fowler-Nicolosi tossed a 10-yard TD pass to Horton and a 2-point conversion pulled the Rams to 29-16 with 7:59 left.
Following the final two-minute timeout and on fourth-and-goal, Morrow took a direct snap out of a wildcat formation and bulled into the end zone from the 1 to give Colorado State a 24-21 lead.
McCoy then led a 14-play, 52 yard drive to set up Everett Hayes' 44-yard field goal with 20 seconds left in regulation.
It was the fourth meeting between the teams and the first in Corvallis since 1975. Colorado State won the last game, 58-27, in 2017.