Oregon State Rolls Colorado State Behind Five Atkinson Touchdowns
Braden Atkinson completed 31 of 34 passes. Read that again. Three incompletions, 427 yards and five touchdowns, and Oregon State beat Colorado State 56-26 on the road.
It started with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Legree on the first possession of the game, and a 2-yard G. Milbourn run made it 14-0 late in the first. Colorado State answered twice, a 17-yard Mel Brown run in the closing seconds of the quarter and a 1-yard K'saan Farrar score early in the second, and it was 14-14. That was the last time the Rams were close. Oregon State scored three more touchdowns before halftime (Aaron Butler from 30 yards, then Eric Olsen from 5 and Legree from 28 with 33 seconds left) and led 35-14 at the break.
The second half was cleanup. Atkinson and Olsen connected again from 8 yards in the third, Colorado State got two touchdowns but missed both two-point tries, and a late Legree catch of 52 yards with 8:58 left in the fourth finished it at 56-26.
The yardage was no contest: 654 for the Beavers, 368 for the Rams. Oregon State threw for 427 and ran for 227 on only 34 carries, and it never threw an interception. Colorado State's Durell Robinson ran 21 times for 117 yards and still lost by 30, because Farrar threw for 178 and the defense had one sack and nothing else to show for it.
Oregon State is 3-2. Colorado State is 2-3. If you had Atkinson, you had a good Saturday: 49.7 points matched his best of the year. Legree and Olsen came with him.