Oregon State beat Florida to win the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?
Oregon State 30, Florida 3 SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means
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SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl What Happened
– Oregon State took over right away, owned all phases, and rolled easily with Ben Gulbranson running for a touchdown and hitting Silas Bolden for a 15-yard score on the way to a 30-0 lead. Florida finally got on the board with a 40-yard field goal in the final minute.
– The dangerous Florida running game didn’t go anywhere. It was held to just 39 yards on 33 carries, only broke off a few decent runs, and couldn’t find anything that consistently worked. The Beaver defense lived in the Gator backfield.
– Oregon State was up 10-0 early in the second half when its drive stalled. It faked the punt, Jack Colletto rumbled for the first down, and the offense kept the momentum driving for a score – the Bolden touchdown catch.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl Player of the Game
Deshaun Fenwick, RB Oregon State
Jack Colletto might have made some of the biggest plays – he blocked a punt to go along with his first down off a fake punt – but Fenwick steadily set the tone with 107 yards on 20 carries.
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SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl Fun Stats
– Rushing Yards: Oregon State 164 – Florida 39
– Penalties: Florida 11 for 82 yards – Oregon State 7 for 50 yards
– Florida QB Jack Miller completed 13-of-22 passes for 180 yards and ran for 13 yards
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl What It All Means
This is a big deal for Oregon State and head coach Jonathan Smith. He just got a new contract – not that he was under real pressure, but the win makes that look stronger – and now he got the program its first ten-win season since 2006.
Just as big – considering how the Beavers flopped in a loss in last year’s LA Bowl – this it the first bowl win since 2013 and the second since 2008. With this, there’s a shot at finishing in the top 15 in the final polls.
Not to diminish what Oregon State was able to do, but this was a true exhibition game for Florida. It was missing QB Anthony Richardson and a slew of other stars, but this should’ve been a better overall performance.
The defense had its issues all year long, but it wasn’t miserable here. Billy Napier’s offense stalled with the ground game unable to pick up the slack without Richardson. Not having him to run the ball was an issue, but overall this was a flat performance.
Napier will get a bit of a pass for a losing season in his first year, but a loss like this – and Florida’s third straight bowl loss including last year’s rough Gasparilla defeat to UCF – won’t help an impatient fan base.
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