Jonathan Smith knew what was coming before the reporter even finished getting their question out. He just smiled and dropped his head.

You can always count on a college football broadcast camera to catch you slipping. The FS1 broadcast caught Smith on Friday night giving a pretty interesting signal to let his Oregon State Beavers know he wanted them to milk the clock.

Asked if that was a situation where Smith was, in fact, signaling his team to try and start running out the remainder of the clock in the fourth, Smith cracked a smile.

“Yeah, so, they gave me a heads up that (video) was out there. I’ve got to learn the signals because I’m actually not giving the correct signal offensively,” Smith said as the press room burst out laughing. “They told me there was a better signal on that.

“It got communicated and I’m gonna do whatever I can to get things communicated.”

A results-based business, folks.

Smith and the Beavers dominated Utah on Friday, 21-7. The Beavers outgained the Utes on a per-play basis 5.8 to 3.1. On both sides of the football, the Beavs dictated the terms of engagement at the line of scrimmage.

And that put Smith’s crew in a position to try and salt away most of the fourth quarter. An interception thrown by Utah on third-and-goal at the end of the third led to a 45-yard touchdown run from Silas Bolden early in the fourth to put Oregon State up 21-0.

Oregon State will need to work on its late-game execution — their fourth-quarter possessions ended with an interception and two three-and-outs before running out the last 2:49 in four plays — but defensive dominance got it done.

Smith will surely get another chance to show off the “milk the clock” signal.