Braden Atkinson is a problem, and not the fun kind. The Oregon State quarterback just dropped 347 yards and three touchdowns on the Cougs, and he did it without a single turnover. He now leads the FBS in passing yards and touchdown throws, and that stings because we watched it happen.
The sophomore transfer from Mercer is having the kind of season that makes you wonder what the scouting reports missed. He hit a 90-yard bomb to Jesse Legree in the first half, then completed eight straight passes in the second half, two for touchdowns, to put the game away. Meanwhile, OSU running back AJ Newberry, a Vanderbilt transfer, racked up 225 yards of total offense on our defense. He hurdled a WSU tackler on an 88-yard screen pass touchdown that made the deficit 27-3 in the second quarter. That was the ballgame. Our new quarterback showed some flashes, but the Cougars are still hunting for consistency, and that's the part that keeps you up at night. Kirby Moore finally had something to say, and it wasn't about a tie gave us some hope after the first five games, and Owen Eshelman and Branden Ganashamoorthy made the scoreboard hurt a little less by showing up in Corvallis, but the truth is we got handled.
Here is the take you can text a buddy: Atkinson is the real deal, and our defense has no answer for a dual-threat quarterback who doesn't turn the ball over. Twenty-four touchdowns against two interceptions is insane. He's completing deep balls, he's threading needles, and he's doing it as a sophomore who wasn't even in the FBS last year. Newberry is a problem too, 11 carries for 105 yards and five catches for 120 more. That's a running back who can beat you both ways, and we let him look like a cheat code. The Cougs found some offensive rhythm with the new guy under center, but the defense is the one that needs to answer for this. You can't win many games when the other team's running back averages 9.5 yards per carry and their quarterback has a 90-yard gear.
The specific thing to watch is whether our defensive staff can adjust before the rematch. Atkinson is going to keep slinging it, and Newberry is going to keep hurdling guys. If we can't force a turnover or blow up a screen pass, the scoreboard in Pullman is going to look a lot like the one in Corvallis. That is the open question, and it is the only one that matters right now. Go Cougs.