[Austroturf]

I didn't get a chance to watch the second half due to the 9-hour time difference and, clearly, I did not miss much.  In the first half, Stanford had its chances; and Oregon State appeared willing to keep us in the game with holding penalties and sketchy kicks.  But we were simply unable to capitalize.  

In retrospect, the most frustrating point of the first half was the decision to try the monster 55-yard FG, which was subsequently blocked.  Up until that point, we had been offensively challenged, to say the least.  OSU was dominating TOP and had roughly double our TOP, but they were only 7 points up.  We were at the OSU 37-yard line with a 4th and 5.  Three minutes and 45 seconds remained in the half.  Yes, 4th and 5 is not a high percentage play; but after Nolan's botched pooch punt, Ari and the offense had marched down the field from the Stanford 20 in 7 plays, including some nice strikes from Patu to Wilson.  We had something akin to offensive momentum.  Why not take a chance?  In fact, what did we really have to lose?  Make the game exciting, take a risk, go for it, mix it up and get that tying score before the half.  Failure would have been no worse than a blocked or missed kick.  As it was, OSU got the ball at our 37 and marched down the field to score their 2nd TD to go up 14-0, and our overworked defense got to spend another 3:45 on the field.  I checked out after that, as the clock struck 01:00 AM over here. Disappointing.

[Austroturf]

I didn't get a chance to watch the second half due to the 9-hour time difference and, clearly, I did not miss much.  In the first half, Stanford had its chances; and Oregon State appeared willing to keep us in the game with holding penalties and sketchy kicks.  But we were simply unable to capitalize.  

In retrospect, the most frustrating point of the first half was the decision to try the monster 55-yard FG, which was subsequently blocked.  Up until that point, we had been offensively challenged, to say the least.  OSU was dominating TOP and had roughly double our TOP, but they were only 7 points up.  We were at the OSU 37-yard line with a 4th and 5.  Three minutes and 45 seconds remained in the half.  Yes, 4th and 5 is not a high percentage play; but after Nolan's botched pooch punt, Ari and the offense had marched down the field from the Stanford 20 in 7 plays, including some nice strikes from Patu to Wilson.  We had something akin to offensive momentum.  Why not take a chance?  In fact, what did we really have to lose?  Make the game exciting, take a risk, go for it, mix it up and get that tying score before the half.  Failure would have been no worse than a blocked or missed kick.  As it was, OSU got the ball at our 37 and marched down the field to score their 2nd TD to go up 14-0, and our overworked defense got to spend another 3:45 on the field.  I checked out after that, as the clock struck 01:00 AM over here. Disappointing.