Oregon State earned its first Pac-12 Conference victory of the season in dramatic fashion Saturday night at Stanford. Tre’Shaun Harrison’s 56-yard touchdown catch gave the Beavers a 28-27 win over the Cardinal.

The play capped a fourth-quarter comeback on a night when Oregon State was playing without starting quarterback Chance Nolan. The team also ran into some bad luck when an injury to long snapper Dylan Black reduced its options on extra points and field-goal attempts late in the game. Following are three thoughts on the Beavers’ victory.

Digging a hole

Stanford scored a touchdown on its first possession and led until the final moments of the contest. The Beavers’ sloppy and at times undisciplined play, particularly in the first half, contributed to the deficit.

Oregon State was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct three times in the first half. On the first, a Stanford player was also flagged and the penalties offset. The second unsportsmanlike call against the Beavers combined with a defensive pass interference to gift the Cardinal a field-goal opportunity, which they converted.

The third unsportsmanlike call put the Beavers in a third-and-23 situation. That is not a situation you want to create for a first-time starter at quarterback. In total, the Beavers were penalized six times for 60 yards in the first half. The second half was much better as Oregon State was penalized just three times for 30 yards.

Protecting Gulbranson

Oregon State dominated in the trenches on running plays, repeatedly pushing back Stanford’s undersized defensive line. But on obvious passing downs, the Cardinal were able to create pressure on Gulbranson. Stanford had four sacks and on three of those plays the Beavers were facing third-and-nine or longer.

Early in the fourth quarter, however, Oregon State’s pass protection clicked into place on one of the key plays of the game. On fourth-and-eight, Gulbranson had a clean pocket and lofted a fade into the end zone which Silas Bolden caught for a touchdown.

On the game-winning drive Oregon State did not have the option of running the football. The Beavers had less than a minute left on the clock and no timeouts. A sack would likely have ended the game, but the Cardinal couldn’t create any pressure and Gulbranson had plenty of time in the pocket to find his targets.

Big plays

In the losses to USC and Utah, it was their opponents who made the biggest plays in the second half. Oregon State turned that around at Stanford.

The game-winning catch by Harrison will live on for years as one of the iconic plays in Oregon State football history. That touchdown was the last in a succession of key plays the Beavers made as they put together their comeback.

The Bolden touchdown catch started the rally. That drive was aided by a 29-yard run by freshman running back Damien Martinez which moved the Beavers deep into Stanford territory.

A few minutes later, Martinez broke free again, this time getting all the way into the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown run. The offensive line created a lane and Martinez did the rest, cutting back hard after hitting the hole and then accelerating away from the Stanford defenders. Oregon State has been looking for more explosive plays on the ground game and this was a perfect example of the kind of execution needed to create one.

Not all of the big plays were made by the offense. In the fourth quarter, Ryan Cooper Jr. had a pass break-up on third down to force a Cardinal punt. Later in the quarter, John McCartan made a tackle for a loss on third down. That play held Stanford to a field goal and made Harrison’s final heroics possible.

The lesson from this game is obvious: The Oregon State team of the first half will struggle to beat anyone in the conference whose mascot is not a bison. The Oregon State team of the second half can compete with anyone. Which team will we see Saturday against Washington State?