The question of the hour, yet again, regards who the Oregon State Beavers (2-9) will start at quarterback vs. Washington State this weekend.
Oregon State football’s interim head coach Robb Akey poked playful fun at the media on Monday. The question of the hour, yet again, regarded who the Beavers (2-9) plan to start at quarterback against Washington State this weekend.
“At quarterback? Man, y’all have got to make up your minds!” Akey, through a sly grin, said. “Remember a few weeks back? You were asking me if Gabarri (Johnson) was going to start. Now you want to know if Tristan (Ti’a) is going to start? We might start all three of them in this game!”
Of Oregon State’s four rostered quarterbacks, three saw action in the Beavers’ first 11 games. Entering the 2025 season’s finale, it’s a mystery of who will do the honor.
The Field
Oregon State named redshirt-junior Maalik Murphy its week-one starter. Murphy held the job through the first eight weeks of the season before the Beavers’ half-time pivot to Johnson against Lafayette. He’s played, albeit sparingly, since. But Oregon State hasn’t seen the return on the investment — a seven-figure one — it made into Murphy as a transfer-portal addition this off-season.
Murphy owns a 58.1% completion-percentage (161-for-277) as a Beaver, passing for 1,805 yards, nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. He’s added one rushing score and took 12 sacks through 11 games, making eight starts. Murphy is 1-7 as Oregon State’s starting quarterback.
Johnson, a redshirt-sophomore, entered the game for Oregon State in the second half and led the comeback win against the Lafayette Leopards. It was the Beavers’ first win of the 2025 season and earned Johnson the starting job moving forward. In his first collegiate-start the following week, Johnson helped the Beavers to a win against Washington State. He again started against Sam Houston and Tulsa, with Oregon State dropping both games.
Johnson passed for 503 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, making three starts and appearing in all 11 games. He’s added 119 yards and a touchdown on the ground and owns a 1-2 record as the Beavers’ starting quarterback.
In the fourth quarter against Tulsa, the Beavers made another change. True freshman Tristan Ti’a took the offense’s reins, trailing 31-0. Ti’a powered Oregon State to a pair of late touchdowns. Although the back-to-back scoring drives proved inconsequential to the game’s outcome, Ti’a turned plenty of heads in the process.
The former four-star recruit completed eight of 11 passing attempts for 141 yards and two touchdowns against the Golden Hurricane. Ti’a hasn’t yet made a collegiate start and, having appeared in just two games thus far, is still eligible to redshirt.
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Kallen Gutridge, a product of Wilsonville High School, is the only signal-caller on Oregon State’s roster without an in-game appearance this season.
From Tulsa to the Palouse
Akey said the decision to play Ti’a in the fourth quarter against Tulsa was “a good thing” after both Johnson and Murphy played an apathetic brand of football. Johnson completed only six of his 14 pass attempts for just 44 yards and was sacked twice. Murphy attempted 11 passes, completing five for 56 yards.
Neither Johnson or Murphy led a scoring drive on nine-combined chances.
“We’ve been trying to work those quarterbacks throughout the course of the year,” Akey said. “We weren’t having a lot of success. (So, we) tried a new hand at that point in time. And I thought it was a good thing.”
Akey built on his joke about starting all three, saying Oregon State could invent a “new kind of (wishbone)” offense or attempt a “triple-pass” against the Cougars. It makes just one thing clear about the Beavers’ quarterback situation — even if the team has decided, Akey won’t tip its hand.
If Oregon State starts Ti’a against Washington State, he’d be the Beavers’ first true-freshman starting quarterback since Seth Collins did so in 2015.
Week 14: Oregon State (2-9) vs. Washington State (5-6)
When: Saturday, Nov. 29
Where: Martin Stadium; Pullman, Washington
Time: 3:30 p.m. (PT)
TV: The CW Network
Favorite: Washington State, -13.5 (odds via ESPN at time of publication)
