With less than five minutes left in the third quarter, the WSU football team was 2 yards shy of a touchdown that would put them ahead of the Oregon State Beavers.

Redshirt junior quarterback Connor Halliday received the snap and threw a jump ball in the back left corner of the end zone, which senior wide receiver Vince Mayle caught and held on for a touchdown and put the Cougars ahead 24-17 with a little less than five minutes left to play.

The Cougar defense contained Oregon State junior quarterback Sean Mannion, who entered the game throwing for over 2,000 yards this season and was regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in the country. For most of the game, the WSU defense even shut down Oregon junior Brandin Cooks, who is one of the top wide receivers in the country.

The Cougars had all the momentum. However, the excitement the WSU football team and the 30,000 screaming fans at Martin Stadium last night felt in the third quarter quickly disappeared.

Entering the fourth quarter with the game tied 24- 24, the Cougars collapsed in all areas of the game. WSU gave up 28 unanswered points to the Beavers, which resulted in a 24-52 loss and a 4-3 record on the year.

“We played them really well for two-thirds of the game, and it’s not that hard to finish one extra third of the game,” Leach said in a press conference. “That game was right there for us to take and for us to have, and we gave it to them.”

Of the five possessions the Cougars had in the fourth quarter, four resulted in interceptions, and the other was a fumble. Mannion finally found his rhythm and took advantage of the opportunities the Cougar offense gave and threw for two touchdowns and 108 yards in the fourth quarter.

Mannion finished the night completing 34 out of 51 of his passes and threw for 493 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. Oregon’s Cooks broke out his slump in the fourth quarter and caught five passes for 71 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the game with 11 catches, 137 yards receiving and two touchdown receptions.

“Our coverage broke down,” WSU safety Deone Bucannon said in a press conference. “We didn’t have the d-line’s back as a defensive back unit, and we just need to work on and correct that.”

Halliday completed 26 of his 49 completions and threw for 248 yards and one touchdown, along with three interceptions.

“I thought he gave in, we had adversity and certainly it wasn’t just Connor,” Leach said. “I thought we came out storming the third quarter. Two thirds of the game we played as well as we can play and then the last third we faced adversity and waved the white flag.”