CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State true freshman Seth Collins hit Jordan Villamin with a 40-yard touchdown pass to open the fourth quarter, pulling the Beavers within 11 points against No. 21 Stanford.
But ultimately, the young Beavers couldn’t score again, and the Cardinal won 42-24 on Friday night.
“We’ve got a long way to go to stand toe-to-toe with those guys for four quarters,” said coach Gary Andersen, who is remaking Oregon State in his first season in charge.
Collins, who again showed flashes of brilliance in just his fourth career outing, completed 20 of 36 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown, and he ran for another score. Villamin caught seven passes for 138 yards.
The more experienced and physical Cardinal (3-1, 2-0 Pac-12) wore down the Beavers (2-2, 0-1).
Kevin Hogan, a game-time decision because of an ankle sprain, threw for 163 yards and two touchdowns, while Christian McCaffrey ran for a career-high 206 yards, finishing with 303 all-purpose yards.
Barry Sanders answered Stanford’s fourth-quarter touchdown with a 65-yard scoring run and finished with 97 yards and two scores for the Cardinal.
“Our offense started to roll a little bit, we started getting the passing game going, the running game was good,” Villamin said. “I’m just more concerned about the loss. I just really wanted to win. I don’t care about the stats.”
Hogan was a question mark for the game after injuring his left ankle in the second half of last week’s upset of then-No. 6 USC. He threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns in that one, gritting out a 41-31 win that put Stanford back in the rankings.
He showed no sign of the injury against the Beavers, deftly moving the Cardinal downfield on the opening series of the game. Remound Wright capped the drive with a 1-yard scoring run.
Collins answered for the Beavers with a 1-yard touchdown run after finding Victor Bolden in traffic with a 7-yard pass to get close.
After Hogan hit Austin Hooper with a 42-yard TD pass to make it 14-7, Collins again led Oregon State on a successful drive that ended with redshirt freshman Ryan Nall’s 5-yard scoring run, the first touchdown of his career.
Stanford went up 21-14 in the second quarter on Wright’s 2-yard scoring run. But Cardinal starting defensive end Aziz Shittu was injured before the half and had to be helped from the field.
Garrett Owens made a 24-yard field goal for Oregon State just before halftime that cut the margin to 21-17.
Collins fumbled on the opening series of the second half and Stanford recovered on the Oregon State 9-yard line, but the Beavers’ defense held and the Cardinal had to settle for a 28-yard field goal attempt— which missed wide left.
Stanford began to pull away midway through the third quarter when Hogan hit Michael Rector with a 49-yard touchdown pass that extended the lead to 28-17. Sanders added an 11-yard scoring run for the Cardinal later in the quarter.
Stanford linebacker Joey Alfieri made his first career start against the Beavers. His dad, Phil, played defensive end at Oregon State from 1983-88.
It was Stanford’s sixth straight victory over Oregon State.
The Beavers were coming off a 35-21 victory over San Jose State last weekend. They have a bye next weekend.
