Oregon State QB Tristan Gebbia Ruled Out For Utah Game

CORVALLIS, Ore. – When the Oregon State Beavers travel to Salt Lake City on Saturday, they will have a different quarterback under center against Utah.

Redshirt junior quarterback Tristan Gebbia suffered an injury on the penultimate play of the Beavers’ last drive to take the lead and eventually the win over Oregon last Friday.

Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith joined John Canzano on the “Bald Faced Truth” radio show on 750 The Game to discuss the status of Gebbia.

“He (Gebbia) was very limited yesterday (Wednesday) in practice. We actually took him up to Portland last afternoon after practice, just get another set of eyes on him, specialist, another opinion, and kind of digest in all of that, he’s not gonna play this weekend,” Smith told Canzano. “It’s just kind of a risk reward, him trying to push through putting him at risk to make it worse. We feel good about Chance (Nolan), we felt good about Chance the whole time. So giving him all the reps today (Wednesday), and tomorrow (Thursday), and then Friday, giving him the best chance to prepare and help us score some touchdowns.”

Gebbia threw for 824 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, while rushing for two TD’s in four games this season. It’s possible that he will miss the rest of the season.

“Yeah, there’s a possibility he is done for the season,” said Smith. “I’m not ready to quite say that, we’re still gathering, still thinking through this thing. But you know, I’ll answer questions next week on it. But that’s definitely a possibility.”

Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith said he took Tristan Gebbia to Portland to have him evaluated.

“He’s not going to play this weekend."

— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) December 2, 2020

Chance Nolan Will Start Against Utah

Nolan is a redshirt sophomore from Menifee, California. He joined the Beavers in January 2020 after transferring from Saddleback College. The No. 1 JUCO dual threat QB will make his first Division I start on Saturday. Coach Smith said that offense won’t change much with Nolan under center.

“It’s not going to change a bunch. I mean, you don’t kind of do that in the middle of the year and be honest with you, where the offense has kind of become we’ve liked where we’re headed,” Smith said on Bald Faced Truth. “He does have some athleticism, you know, through the recruiting process, as we were looking at him, he can extend plays, I kind of describe him as a point guard out there, distributing the ball, can move his feet. It’s the same game plan like Tristan, we were going in with, it’ll be very similar to Chance. He’s got to get us in the right place in the run game. Make some throws from the pocket also move it. So it’s not gonna look very different on Saturday.”

Nolan played one snap against Oregon last week and it was a QB sneak for a one-yard touchdown to give the Beavers the win over their rival Oregon.

What Smith Sees From Utah On Film

Oregon State is riding some momentum into Saturday’s game following two straight wins and a victory over a top 25 team. Since joining the Pac-12 in 2011, Utah has had success against the Beavers, going 5-2 in the series as conference foes. The Utes are 2-1 against Oregon State at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“Yeah, they (Utah) get some athletes and make it physical,” Smith said. “I mean, they’ve been doing a similar scheme, especially defensively for a long time. So disciplined, physical, that’s what I see.”

Canzano asked Smith what makes Utah so physical defensively.

“I think what they recruit is size and athleticism up front, but then they develop them,” Smith stated. “I mean, these guys are just like, running out with any type of with no teaching or technique. I mean, they’re well coached and they’re athletic, good players.”

Utah and Oregon State will kickoff at 8:30 p.m. MST on Saturday, Dec. 5. The game will be televised on ESPN.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.