What Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith said after the Beavers beat San Diego State

The Oregon State Beavers are 3-0 after an impressive defensive performance against San Diego State on Saturday at Reser Stadium.

There were highlight plays from the offense as well, but the Beavers consistently held the SDSU offense in check, creating six sacks in the 26-9 victory.

OSU coach Jonathan Smith talked about the good and the not-so-good from the victory during a postgame news conference with reporters. Here’s a transcript, edited slightly for clarity and brevity.

Smith: Well, every time you win you feel good at the end of it, that’s what you’re trying to do and we got that done. I did think we had to grind it out, which was not a shock. I mean that football team, San Diego State, they’re physical, they can run the ball, they’ve got some good players. Challenging scheme on defense and created some some problems at times offensively, especially early for us. And I’m just proud of the group to be able to just keep fighting and grinding. Defensively for the most part, gave up a few that we’ll learn from on tape, but outside of that I thought they kept us in this thing and kept on battling throughout. I was really pleased with that. So, another awesome home crowd can’t thank Beaver Nation (enough). Sellout, the place is rockin’, makes a difference for the opponent. And so it feels good to finish nonconference play 3-0.

Q: After winning pretty one-sided last couple of weeks, do you feel like this was a game you guys kind of needed, the way it played out? Or is that overrated?

Smith: I think our guys know these games are going to get more and more difficult. They’re going to be closer, tighter throughout. Not just for one half type thing. So I was proud of these guys. They kept on battling. We’re scrapping out there, back and forth, chipping away, it’s 3-0, it’s 6-0 and a long time a one-possession game, so we know that type of game is coming. And today was kind of like that.

Q: In regard to the passing game. DJ has been pretty accurate so far this season. Today it was a struggle for quite a while. How much of that was his passes, and how much was the receivers just not being able to get separation out there?

Smith: There was a combination of a few things. I think, yeah, there’s a couple of throws that he can make that were not as accurate as we’d like. There’s a couple times we were not on the same page route running wise, thinking he was going to break out, he breaks in and that kind of thing. Again, give some credit San Diego State. That scheme is not easy, the way they change looks pre-snap, post-snap. So they made it hard.

Q: Talk a little bit about the tackles for loss and sacks today. It really seemed like even though San Diego State was may be able to hit some underneath stuff, when it was important you guys were able to get pressure on them.

Smith: Yeah, (Andrew) Chatfield, Takari Hickle squeezed in that pocket. The guy can make some throws in the pocket and he did. But yeah, we, for the most part, contained him to escape in the pocket. He hit some underneath stuff that hurt us at times, but was pleased at the line of scrimmage on defense.

Q: Speaking of the opposing DB core, they gave you guys a little bit of trouble again, and they were of course coming to this game one of the best DB cores in the nation. Six picks heading into this one, eight picks now in total. I think 10 turnovers in total through four games for them now. What sort of challenges do you feel like they gave you offensively and what did you kind of see?

Smith: You know, the first pick, we were throwing the ball and it’s just a little bit high. Anthony Gould’s going up, I think DJ is going to be decent spot with the ball, gets tipped up there and they get it. And then ultimately on the second one to Silas (Bolden), we’re actually wanting that coverage. We want man on man, we want to throw it back across the field and they made a better play than us. And so give those guys some credit. Turnovers are going to take place, talked about it a little bit. And so I was pleased with the response of our guys, kept battling.

Q: Were you mad at those turnovers? You talked about last week you said you’d figure out if you’re going to be mad. Were you?

Smith: Yeah, never pleased, obviously, there because again, if we can execute better and we’re not going to turn the thing over. But you play this game, it’s not a game of perfect. Turnovers are going to take place. We’re going to have to tighten that up as these games get closer and closer because that can make a huge difference.

Q: Late in the second quarter I noticed that you had swapped Jermod McCoy for Tyrice Ivy Jr. Was Tyrice injured at all or was that just part of the feel of the game? What happened there?

Smith: Yeah, I feel actually really good about both those players. Jermod, we want to get him in the game and he’s done a good job and so that was the nothing to do with injury. McCoy’s just earned some reps.

Q: Not to keep repeating the same thing that everyone’s saying over and over again, but obviously you guys struggled a little bit on offense. But how important was it to just, for the players even, just to show themselves that they’re just one play away from reaching the end zone?

Smith: Well, we were productive. I mean, looking at yardage and things, we’re moving the ball. And then, I think it’s first drive, we got a couple penalties backed us up, took us out of that. We didn’t convert on third down, we’re not on the same page on a route there, then we’re kicking a field goal. And again, that scheme, San Diego State makes it tough. We had a couple of three-and-outs, we turned the ball over a couple of times. We also had a couple of big plays that, and then Anthony Gould toward the end separated things.

Q: You’ve played three times. Which game did you get the most out of as a team?

Smith: Yeah, that’s a good question. I do think that you learn more and more each week. I think this week you learned a ton. Again, the talent level, the schematics, battling back from some adversity. I think we learned a ton today.

Q: The touchdown by (Joshua) Gray. What’s it like when you’ve got to play design like that in your pocket and you know you’re holding on to it, and what goes into the decision of when to pull that out and to use a play like that?

Smith: Yep, we’ve had it in the playbook for the last couple of years. Just, an opportune time didn’t present itself. I actually talked a little bit about it with the team yesterday because it presented, we felt like we’d get down there tight, that this was a play to give us an advantage. And they practiced it. Josh was catching balls. DJ actually throws a really good ball, it’s well designed. The situation arises, you practice them enough, you’ve got to trust your execution.

Q: Couple injuries today. Any update on Makiya (Tongue) or Ryan Cooper?

Smith: Yeah, not not a definite update. Sounds early like Makiya might be a little bit longer term. And then on Coop, haven’t heard that that’s a long-term thing, but still don’t know.

Q: You’ve made a big emphasis this year on wanting to get explosive plays. Is that one thing that you take out of this game that you feel pretty good about, because there were five or six pretty explosive plays, with Gould on top of that?

Smith: Yeah, it was Gould. And I think Damien (Martinez)’s can be explosive. (Jack) Velling has a sweet catch. Good throw by DJ to separate things. We’ve got to be able to complement that. I just think in general, whether it’s us, any offense, the ability to create 20-, 30-yard gains. It’s hard to go 10, 12, 14 plays and execute the whole time without hurting yourself or dropping the ball or a penalty there. So it’s vitally important.

Q: How important, obviously you mentioned, not happy with offensive output, but how important is it that your defense, you can really hang your hat on that and they can keep you in the game even when they’re not even forcing turnovers, just playing good defense?

Smith: Yeah, they played like I said, for the majority of the game, played really good defense, getting off the field, pressuring the quarterback. The run game in general, pretty solid, did have a couple of plays that we gave away in the second half that we got to tighten up because those will really hurt us. I do think they dropped a couple of balls that, those are caught, that’ll hurt us. But overall defensively, obviously give up whatever it was, nine points, you’ll take that.

Q: Coach 3-0, obviously nonconference, you guys head into Pac-12 play next week against Washington State. We’ve seen how good this Cougars team can be. What do you think you guys are most going to have to improve upon over the next seven days to get ready for a tough team and a tough crowd in Pullman, potentially a very important game against this season?

Smith: Yeah, I just think it’s important we’re improving each week. The more and more tape we put out there, whoever we’re playing next, we’ve got to take a step and improve. Know some of our flaws, some of the things that we got to get better at moving forward. That’ll be a challenge. I haven’t looked at those guys much at all. But it starts Pac-12 play.

Q: I know conference realignment has been a discussion over the last couple of months. Knowing that you guys and Washington State are going to be the last two that are going to be a part of the Pac-12, at least as we know it right now. Do you find it at all ironic that the first game of the Pac-12 season, you guys are going against Washington state? Again the two last members of the Pac-12, facing off against each other in the first game of Pac-12 competition?

Smith: No, I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. The schedule is what it is. Knew we were going to play them every year because we were on the schedule. But we’re looking forward to it. Try to digest this one, and then we’ll move forward.