via Oregon State Athletic Communications
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State’s late fourth quarter comeback attempt fell short in the final drive of the game as they fell, 37-26, to Fresno State on Saturday.
Maalik Murphy led the Beaver (0-2) offense with 371 yards through the air with four touchdown passes, going 31-of-48. Anthony Hankerson churned for 136 yards on 25 carries, which pushed him to 1,260 for his Beaver career, ranking him 36th in program history.
Taz Reddicks – with 11 catches for 158 yards – led the Beaver receivers in both catches and yards while four other Beavers hauled in scores.
With 7.0 total tackles and one for loss, Dexter Foster led the Oregon State defense while Saliasa Vadrawale III had a team-best five solo stops and Trey Glasper broke up a pass.
Until the final score, no team saw much separation with the largest lead being just five points for both the Beavers and Bulldogs. The scoring opened with both sides trading touchdowns before Oregon State took their second lead at 15-14 after a Caleb Ojeda field goal with just 3:23 left in the second but Fresno State re-took the lead right before half with a punt return to close the half at 20-15.
Oregon State opened the second half with an 11:16, 18 play drive for a touchdown that spanned 75 yards, making it the longest drive of the season, in terms of time.
Looking to complete the comeback, Murphy led the Beaver offense 68 yards down in the field in just 49 seconds for a score to put up OSU by a point at 27-26 with 1:19 left. Fresno State promptly responded with a field goal and an interception returned for a score to seal it at 36-27.
Oregon State will make its road debut next week in the Lone Star State, playing Texas Tech on September 13. Kickoff from Lubbock is set for 12:30 p.m. PT and can be seen on Fox.
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