The Oregon State offense scored over 50 points for the third time in four games in a 66-14 victory over San Diego State on Saturday afternoon. The Beavers improved to 4-2 on the year and 2-0 in Pac-12 play with the win in front of a home crowd in Corvallis’ Reser Stadium.
Now halfway through the regular season, Oregon State is on a four-game winning streak after dropping its first two matchups.
“I’m proud of our team – how we were able to pace the game and control the game,” Oregon State Head Coach JaMarcus Shephard said.
OSU’s quarterback and wide receiver duo of Braden Atkinson and Jesse Legree, who both entered the game in the NCAA’s top two in passing and receiving yards, respectively, each put up gaudy stat lines for yet another week. Atkinson passed for 409 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions with a 76% completion rate. Legree scored three times in a 10-catch, 191-yard performance.
The wide receiver, now gunning for his sixth-consecutive Pac-12 Freshman of the Year award, hit a Heisman pose in celebration following his second score, a 71-yard grab early in the third quarter that put the Beavers up 45-7.
“I’m making history every week. You’re not seeing every person do this,” Legree said regarding his case for the trophy. “To have the quarterback that I have to put me in this position is just great.”
Legree is now the first receiver in school history to record six-straight 100-yard games.
However, the Beavers’ first score of the game didn’t come from Legree, or any OSU receiver, tight end or running back. Just over five minutes into the game, Atkinson threw a two-yard touchdown pass to fellow quarterback Maalik Murphy, who lined up at tight end before running into the right flat.
“Just super excited to see him, just constantly changing his role,” Shephard said of Murphy. “He’s asking to do more and more and more, even away from the quarterback position itself, and I’m just very proud of how he has handled himself throughout this entire season.”
“To be here for (the team), I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Murphy said. “I’m happy with the team. I’m happy with what we’re doing right now, and we just got to keep chipping at it because we’re not anywhere near where we’re going and where we’re supposed to be.”
“I think (Shephard) is being generous to the receivers,” Murphy quipped postgame. “I think I’m No. 1. I’ve been catching the ball my whole life, so it kind of comes easy with reps.”
With Oregon State leading 14-0 in the first quarter and then 38-7 at the half, the Beavers cycled through their depth chart on offense beginning midway through the third quarter. Fourteen different players caught passes. Eight recorded carries.
“To get 14 (players with catches), that’s incredible,” Shephard said. “It’s a testament to our players buying into the work. … They keep looking at me and saying, ‘Coach, we went through hell, and now we’re on the other side of it.’ So look, we’re gonna push you to your limit here at Oregon State. We’re gonna give you every opportunity to touch the football.”
Only half of the points Oregon State allowed on Saturday were given up by the Beaver defense, with San Diego State’s Jaylon Hawkins recording a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown midway through the third quarter to bring the Aztecs’ point total to 14.
But on defense, the Beavers allowed just 147 total yards to the San Diego State offense, finishing the game with two straight tackles for loss. The Aztecs swapped quarterbacks from starter Jayden Denegal to backup Draiden Trudeau in the third quarter, with the latter throwing the lone interception of the day to OSU linebacker Jabari Odoemenem.
“I saw that (Trudeau) was staring me down, so I actually closed back inside and picked the ball off,” Odoemenem said. “So shout out my teammates too for hauling out and getting a great block (on the return) … my D-line for getting a great rush and everything else after that. So I appreciate my coaches and teammates.”
“I think our defensive staff has done an unbelievable job to this point,” he said. “It’s so hard sometimes because our offense tends to get a lot of the TV time and whatnot, but our defense – they don’t get a lot of TV time because they were getting three and outs today.”
“When we brought (Defensive Line Coach and Defensive Run Game Coordinator) Mark Hagen onto this staff, I knew that Coach Hagen would get our defensive line to play at its very best,” Shephard said. “He was going to get every single ounce of what they had out of them. I knew that without a shadow of a doubt.”
However, Shephard emphasized areas where the Beavers need to improve following the win over an Aztecs team that listed 14 players out and another 14 as game-time decisions on its injury report ahead of Saturday’s game; SDSU has dealt with a team mumps outbreak in recent weeks.
“We can get better. Period. You can run the route better. You can attack the ball vertically better,” Shephard said. “I’m not saying it to have fun, to laugh, to joke about it: There are plenty of opportunities for us to get better as a football team, and we will push the envelope to do that.”
Odoemenem said the score was still “0-0 in our eyes” at the half. “Go out there and just execute at a high level because that’s the standard here,” he said.
“I’ll tell you what, I thought our players had a lot of intelligence and control throughout the game today, and right now they have to do an outstanding job of being generous with one another on and off the field,” Shephard said. “I think that’s really important for them to understand the time that they’re spending with one another – that they’ll never get this back.
“This is 2026. We’ll never be together again after the season is over,” the coach added. “Guys will graduate and move on, and you know what? They need to be generous with each other with their time on and off the field.”
Entering the second half of the regular season, the Beavers will next face Washington State University in Corvallis on Oct. 17.
“We saw why we couldn’t wait to get back to Reser,” Shephard said of the home game environment. “I think today we showed what type of university we have, what type of community we have here in Corvallis, and I’ll tell you what: that student section was tremendous. I loved that they showed up early. It was totally packed.”
Shephard described the crowd as “oxygen” – but there were still empty patches of seats in Reser throughout Saturday’s game.
“Our team could feel the energy in the stadium when we got out there,” the coach said. “Not only do we have room for more as a football team – we got room for more fans to keep coming on here to Reser, OK? So come on, be a part of it.”