Agnew Has Big Day But It's Not Enough In Loss

Saturday, September 3

Corvallis, Ore.

1:00 PM

Oregon State

0-1

Sacramento State

1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Sacramento State

Oregon State

September 03, 2011 | Football

Box Score

By: TBD

Sept. 3, 2011

Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Freshman running back Malcolm Agnew made perhaps the best debut in the history of the Oregon State program Saturday in the Beavers' 2011 opener against Sacramento State.

The diminutive back from St. Louis, Mo., rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns, but it wasn't enough to carry the Beavers to a victory in a 29-28 loss in overtime to the Hornets.

Agnew's 223 yards rushing is the ninth-best single-game total in Oregon State history and his three touchdown rushes helped the Beavers come from a 21-6 deficit to even the score midway through the fourth quarter.

Agnew scored his first touchdown at the 12:44 mark of the fourth quarter, then pulled the Beavers to within two on a 4-yard touchdown carry less than five minutes later. Sean Mannion, also appearing in his first career game, found Markus Wheaton in the end zone on a two-point conversion to tie the game.

OSU threatened late in the fourth quarter, but a 27-yard field goal attempt by Trevor Romaine hit the right upright as time expired, forcing the sixth overtime game in Oregon State's history.

"The team is very, very disappointed not winning the game, and that's what we have to live with," Oregon State head coach Mike Riley said. "Tomorrow, we have to go on to the next game. We'll take some things away from this game, like Malcolm Agnew rushing for this yardage. We can then build on this and carry over to the next game. But the ultimate thing right now is we lost the game, and so we'll digest that and look at ways not to do that again, and then enhance some of the good things we were able to do."

Agnew continued his hot day in the Beavers' only overtime period, gaining all of the Beavers' 25 yards. First, he ran for an 8-yard gain, then went up the middle for a 17-yard score.

The Hornets, however, answered with a scoring drive of their own as quarterback Jeff Fleming found Brandyn Reed on a 6-yard touchdown strike. Sacramento State, which was playing a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent for the 10th consecutive season, went for two after an Oregon State timeout.

Fleming tossed a fade to the right side of the end zone, finding Reed again for the two-point conversion and the victory.

Romaine accounted for Oregon State's six points through the first three quarters, in which the Beavers found themselves down 15 entering the fourth quarter. He booted a 29-yarder with 11:52 remaining in the second quarter to give OSU a 3-0 lead.

The Hornets, however, scored the next 14 points on consecutive touchdown passes to Chase Deadder. The first came on a 19-yard score and the second capped off Sacramento State's first half when Fleming found him on a 4-yard pass.

The Beavers inserted Mannion under center to start the second half, and Romaine connected on a 45-yarder with 10:51 remaining to pull OSU to within eight, 14-6. But Reed caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Morris Norrise less than five minutes later to push the Hornets' lead to 21-6.

Oregon State opened its 2011 season with a youth infusion as a school-record eight true freshmen played in the game. That's not just a single-game record, but rather a single-season record, surpassing the seven who played during the 1997 season, head coach Mike Riley's first year in Corvallis.

Agnew was one of the eight true freshmen, and became the first to start a season opener at running back. Brandin Cooks, a wide receiver, became the first true freshman to start at that position as well, and caught three passes for 26 yards.

Mannion did not make the start, but rather made his debut at quarterback, and was 8-for-12 passing for 143 yards in relief of Ryan Katz, who started and was 11-of-22 for 87 yards.

Mannion made his biggest throw of the afternoon on a 69-yarder to Markus Wheaton in the fourth quarter that eventually led to Agnew's second rushing touchdown of the game.

"We had planned to play Sean Mannion," Riley said. "We were going to get him into the game at some point. We were going to do it in the second quarter, but we thought we better stay with Ryan Katz, try to get something going. It's something we've been talking about for at least a week. We thought it would be very important for our team and for Sean to play some."

Additionally, Oregon State had 14 first-time starters in the lineup, with Katz, making his 13th start, the most experienced skilled player on the offensive side of the ball.

Oregon State held a sizeable advantage in terms of statistics, out-gaining the Hornets, 496-397, and finished with 266 rushing yards to just 71 for Sacramento State. OSU also had 13 rushing first downs to just four for Sacramento State, but the Hornets reversed that trend in the passing game, accounting for 13 to nine for the Beavers.

Feti `Unga, one of the 14 first-time starters, led Oregon State defensively with eight tackles, while Scott Crichton, also a first-time starter, was credited with one sack and two tackles for loss.

Overall, OSU had six tackles for loss totaling 24 yards.

Fleming was Sacramento State's leading rusher with 13 carries for 39 yards, and he was 22-of-35 through the air. Eighty-nine of his 257 passing yards went to Norrise, while Reed had 85 of his own.

The loss snapped Oregon State's home-opening win streak at nine games. The Beavers last lost a home opener to UCLA in 2001.

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