Oregon State football shows positives in opening loss to Houston

The Beavers opened their season Sept. 5 at No. 24 Houston , falling 33-20 in the opening game of the JaMarcus Shephard era.

It's the second year in a row the Beavers lost their opener.

This season's first-game loss feels a bit different, though. A late comeback push and a flurry of youth finding ways to impact the contest with Houston — especially on the offensive side of the ball — leave Oregon State with several positive takeaways.

Sophomore starting quarterback Braden Atkinson delivered a stellar performance in his OSU debut. He completed 29 of 48 passes for 376 yards and a touchdown. Atkinson flashed capabilities in both the pass and the scramble, showing Oregon State fans a bit of what might come as a gunslinger.

"I thought that he did a pretty dang good job of just being a leader out there on the football field," Shephard said of Atkinson. "He was calm, he didn't change his demeanor the whole time ... very proud of how he led our football team."

Oregon State's 13 second-half points featured two pass-heavy drives from Atkinson as he moved the ball sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone. Both drives were over 75 yards and both were under six minutes.

"He managed the game in a way that I was super proud of him" Shephard said.

Nine different Beavers caught passes from Atkinson, but his top target Saturday was true freshman wide receiver Jesse Legree.

Legree posted 136 receiving yards on five catches with a touchdown in his first game as a Beaver. He excelled in the open field with his speed and evasiveness and is a major component of a young, exciting receiving corps in Corvallis.

"He's been a dog all fall camp," Atkinson said of Legree. "(Shephard) being our head coach being receiver-minded, we're going to have a bunch of explosiveness, explosive targets. We've got a bunch of guys that can run, can catch, make plays. My job is really just trying to get them the ball, don't be too cute, just try and give them the ball and let them play their game."

Additional offensive contributors include sophomore receiver Aeryn Hampton, who gathered 28 yards on four catches and freshman running back Kourdey Glass, who led OSU rushers with 25 yards on six attempts.

Freshman wide receiver Cynai Thomas also came up with some important third-down catches, garnering a total of 36 yards on two catches.

In totality, the offense wasn't as decisive or executional as Shephard and the Beavers would have hoped in the opener. But there were several signs of positivity from an offense going against a Houston defense regarded as one of top in the country.

"At the end of the day we've got to learn how to finish," Shephard said. "We've got to finish tackles, we've got to finish plays, we've got to finish halves, we've got to finish the game, we've got to finish quarters, we've got to finish. We'll continue to push that narrative for our guys to finish in every aspect of the word finish."

Oregon State's defense, contrarily, never got a hold on the game in Houston.

Houston quarterback Connor Weigman, who was one of the most impactful quarterbacks in the pass-and-run game last fall, delivered much of the same Saturday. Weigman finished with 305 yards on 20-of-30 passing and both a passing and rushing touchdown.

Houston had three receivers gain more than 40 receiving yards, including all-conference receiver Amare Thomas, who posted 133 yards and a touchdown. Running back Makhi Hughes ran all over the field with 98 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown.

Oregon State's lines, on both sides of the ball, felt the strength of the Houston trenches. Atkinson was pressured more than Weigman throughout the majority of the contest, and Houston posted four sacks to OSU's one to show for it.

"The game of college football is really about two things — blocking and tackling. We've got to do a little bit better job as a coaching staff to get these guys to block and tackle better to give ourselves the best opportunity to win," Shephard said. "But I was very proud of how our players fought."

Houston was a strong opening challenge, but Oregon State's schedule doesn't lighten up in the immediate future.

Next week, the Beavers are booked to face Big-12 favorites Texas Tech at Reser Stadium in Corvallis. The Red Raiders are highly touted nationally and a year ago beat the Beavers 45-14 in Lubbock, Texas.

"Excited to be home, excited to be in Reser, just ready to go play some ball and bounce back," Atkinson said.

See photos as Oregon State football plays Houston in season opener

Landon Bartlett covers Oregon State and high school sports for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at LBartlett@statesmanjournal.com or on X, TikTok or Instagram @bartlelo.