CORVALLIS — Everyone in the stadium and watching on TV knew exactly what Oregon State was going to do with the ball.

The Oregon coaching staff and its defense knew what the Beavers were going to do.

Yet, play after play, the Ducks were unable to stop the run game in the final minutes of Saturday’s game.

“It’s frustrating because we knew exactly what they were going to do but we didn’t do anything to stop it,” freshman linebacker Troy Dye said. “We were in the right places but we couldn’t tackle at all — we missed so many tackles.”

The result was a dominant fourth quarter for Oregon State and the end of a winning streak for the Ducks. Behind running back Ryan Nall’s efforts, Oregon State came from behind to defeat Oregon 34-24, snapping the Ducks’ eight-game winning streak in the Civil War.

“You have to give credit to Coach [Gary] Anderson and his staff. They did a very good job,” Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said. “They made the plays when they needed to.”

Running back Royce Freeman led the Ducks with 106 yards on 19 carries while Darren Carrington had three catches for 76 yards and a score.

Nall finished the game with 155 yards on 31 carries with four touchdowns while Oregon State quarterback Marcus McMaryion added 81 yards rushing and 101 yards passing.

The Ducks appeared to be in good shape midway through the third quarter. Oregon took a 24-14 lead after Aidan Schneider kicked a 46-yard field goal.

From that point on, the weather began to take hold. Heavy rain prevented both the Ducks and the Beavers from efficient passing.

In return, the Beavers called on Nall. Oregon didn’t have an answer.

“Everyone knew they were going to give the ball to him but we couldn’t execute on how to stop him,” senior linebacker Johnny Ragin said. “He keeps his legs moving so it was difficult to bring him down, but that’s no excuse.”

The Beavers scored the final 20 points, wearing down a depleted Oregon defensive line. In the fourth quarter alone, Oregon State ran 20 plays — all of them rushes.

With 9:40 left, the Ducks, facing a 3rd-and-12 on the drive, handed off the ball to Freeman instead of opting for a pass. Freeman was held to a gain of six yards and Oregon was forced to punt. The visitors didn’t get the ball back until there was 1:56 left in the game.

“They definitely played keep away and kept us off the field,” Freeman said. “It was a good strategy by them and it worked in their favor because we couldn’t turn that around.”

After entering halftime tied at 14, Oregon’s defense came out of the locker room and played with an edge.

Oregon forced the Beavers to punt on their first two possessions to take advantage of good field position. Justin Herbert — 16-of-28 for 160 yards and a touchdown — threw his only scoring pass of the game to Charles Nelson.

The Ducks would add Schneider’s field goal on the next drive but their scoring ended there.

Saturday was Oregon’s first loss in the Civil War series since 2007.

Dye said the coaches told the Ducks to “keep fighting” after the loss.

“Get ready for next season,” Dye said of the message. “You can’t really dwell on this loss, even though it hurts the most out of any loss this season. You just have to keep pushing.”

Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka

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