The last thing Jonathan Smith expects from his team is for Oregon State to suddenly become cocky or overconfident even if the Beavers are sitting on top of the Pac-12 North.

“This group understands that it’s hard to win,” Smith said. “That you’ve got to prepare well to win. This league, anybody can beat anybody. Hunted, hunting all of that. It comes down to 60 minutes on Saturday, preparing to be the best you can and know it’s going to be a fight.”

The next challenge for the surprising Beavers comes Saturday when they visit Washington State. Oregon State (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12) has won four straight since its season-opening loss at Purdue, and has overcome historical roadblocks in the past two weeks, winning at USC and last week knocking off Washington at home.

The Beavers lead the Pac-12 in scoring with an average of 36 points per game and are getting it done offensively thanks largely to their run game. The Beavers rushed for 242 yards on 50 carries against Washington. They lead the Pac-12 with 229 rushing yards per game. Oregon State running back B.J. Baylor leads the league in rushing at 106.6 yards per game and his 6.58 yards per carry are 16th nationally.

All that offensive punch comes without much impact from the passing game. Oregon State quarterback Chance Nolan throws for around 200 yards per game, but he completes 68% of his passes and has thrown for nine touchdowns with just three interceptions. Nolan struggled against Washington, completing only seven passes for a career-low 46 yards.

“They run unafraid and the quarterback does a nice job getting them to the plays they want,” Washington State coach Nick Rolovich said. “He has enough legs to scare you and there’s enough soundness to the passing game, and they know how to attack defenses.”

Washington State has posted seven straight wins over Oregon State. But the Beavers appear to have turned a corner under Smith, now in his fourth season. The Beavers are favored by 3.5 points.

The Cougars (2-3, 1-2) are coming off a sterling defensive effort in a 21-6 win at California, but their offense continues to sputter, ranked 10th in the Pac-12 averaging just 23 points per game.

“We need to keep pushing on the offense to put more points on the board,” Rolovich said.

Oregon State is shooting for its first five-game winning streak since 2013. Washington State leads the series 55-47-3.

Why Oregon State Will Win: Why is this all going so right for Oregon State? How did the team go from being the preseason predicted also-ran in the Pac-12 to a real, live contender? The running game has been devastating. It didn’t work all that well in the opener against Purdue, but since the loss the Beavers have ripped off over 240 rushing yards per game as they’ve been able to dominate teams like USC and Washington with grinding gashes. BJ Baylor has blown up – 532 yards and nine scores in five games – 230-pound Deshaun Fenwick has grown into a bigger role, and it’s all combining with a defense that’s relatively rested throughout games and holds up well against the run.

Why Washington State Will Win: The Cougar run defense hasn’t been awful. It got ripped through by Utah State and Utah, but they managed to keep USC to under 50 yards – partly because the Trojan passing game went off – for a defense that’s not all that bad at getting off the field. There’s a shot Wazzu could beat Oregon State at its own game. It’s not going to run, but it’s great at controlling the time of possession battle and it could make the OSU O press a bit more than usual.

For all of the good things the Beavers are doing, the defense is awful on third downs. Washington State has to combine its controlling style with actual movement down the field, but Washington State is miserable on third downs … usually.

A 21-6 win over Cal was a huge step for a program that can’t get going so far under head coach Nick Rolovich. How did it happen? The defense was strong, but the offense did its part by converting 47% of it its third down chances. It also helped that Cal couldn’t run the ball – that’s not going to happen on the other side in this.

Oregon State’s offensive line it playing too well. Washington State won’t generate enough consistent pressure into the backfield, the Beaver runners will grind out a few good scoring drives in the second half to set the tone, and the Cougar offense won’t have enough pop to keep up.

The Pac-12 honored Oregon State inside linebacker Avery Roberts as its defensive player of the week after his play in the Beavers’ win over Washington. Roberts had 16 tackles, a half sack and an interception against the Huskies.

Washington State beat Oregon State 38-28 to open last year’s shortened season in Corvallis, in Rolovich’s first game as head coach. Rolovich became the first Washington State coach to win his debut since Bill Doba in 2003, and the first to win his debut on the road since Warren Powers in 1977.

Washington State running back Max Borghi has seen his 2021 season slowed by injuries. He ran 13 times for 44 yards against Cal. For the season, Borghi still leads the Cougars in rushing with 303 yards and two touchdowns.