Following a narrow loss last week, No. 19 Oregon State needed a win at home in Corvallis on Friday night against No. 10 Utah to keep its hope of a Pac-12 title pursuit alive.
The Beavers delivered exactly that, grinding down the Utes in a low-scoring battle to pick up a 21–7 victory. Oregon State never trailed, scoring the first three touchdowns of the contest before finally yielding a score late in the fourth quarter.
In the final moments of the win, Beavers coach Jonathan Smith made it abundantly clear that he wanted his team to control the game clock.
Perhaps, a bit too clear.
Broadcast cameras picked up Smith making a rather peculiar gesture from the sideline in the direction of his offense. What began as a winding motion with his finger quickly turned bizarre when Smith took both of his hands and began rubbing and squeezing his chest.
Thankfully, the Fox Sports broadcast had play-by-play man Tim Brando to walk fans through the gesticulation.
“I think he may have been saying, ‘O.K. milk the clock. You gotta milk it.’ Yeah, that’s what that is,” Brando said.
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The Beavers (4–1) were able to run out the clock without allowing the Utes (4–1) to get another offensive possession. Nevertheless, Smith’s head-scratching gesture became the everlasting image from Oregon State’s victory.
