Washington State has its second ranked victory in three weeks.

The latest came Saturday night in a white-knuckle battle with No. 14 Oregon State at home. The 22nd-ranked Cougs were outscored 21-3 in the fourth quarter, but they held on for a 38-35 win to move to 4-0 on the season.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

The big one

We’ll start big picture and then go more specific.

I was thinking about the Washington State-Oregon game last season, when Cougar quarterback Cameron Ward dazzled all first half and had the Cougs set up for a signature win. That game collapsed and Washington State walked off the field in a daze.

But you saw that day Ward was the real deal and, if Washington State could figure out some of its issues, it would be a serious problem for the Pac-12’s presumed elites.

This Cougar team is a serious problem for the rest of the Pac-12.

Oregon State was viewed as the major darkhorse team in the conference, the squad that could wreck a dream season for an Oregon, a USC, or a Washington. Nothing about Oregon State’s 3-1 start suggests they can’t still play the role of spoiler.

But Washington State has a legitimate shot at not just being a thorn in someone else’s side, but a participant in the Pac-12 title game in December.

With 528 yards of offense against the Beavers, Wazzu has now topped 500 yards in three of its four games. The Cougs have hit 30 points in all four games. Ward has topped 400 yards through the air in three of his four.

Washington State averaged 8.1 yards per play and, at one point, held a 35-14 lead.

The Cougars don’t face USC and they don’t play Utah. UCLA, Oregon, and Washington are all on the road.

Write this team off at your own risk. Oregon State is good. Washington State was better Saturday night, and that should scare the rest of the league.

Ward was unreal

Ward completed 28 of his 34 passes for 404 yards and four touchdowns. He added a rushing score. He didn’t throw an interception.

The Cougar quarterback now has 13 passing scores in four games. He’s completing 74.5% of his passes and hasn’t yet thrown an interception.

Ward might be the third or fourth-best quarterback in his conference and still be one of the 10 best quarterbacks in college football.

He was special against Oregon State, and he has been special all year. He hit 19 of his first 20 passes, including 14 straight at one point as Wazzu jumped all over Oregon State.

Ward is slippery in the pocket, and runs to be able to throw. His decision-making has been exceptional this season, and his arm talent is unreal.

Josh Kelly — who had 159 yards and three touchdowns — made highlight play after highlight play because of his one-handed grabs. He brought in one of them for a touchdown on a throw from Ward that was placed in exactly the only spot where his man could get it.

Just a flick of the wrist.

With Ward at the controls playing like this, Washington State will find itself in every game it plays.

Oregon State exits with major questions on defense

The Beavs had to claw their way back into the game late. They had just 14 points through three quarters but the bigger issue was that Washington State averaged 9.2 yards per play over the first 45 minutes.

In its first three games, Oregon State hadn’t given up more than 330 yards or better than 4.9 yards per play in a single outing. They didn’t give up 500 yards in a game a single time a year ago.

This was the first test of the year for a remade Beaver defense. In a way, coach Jonathan Smith might be able to spin this as another extreme result. Oregon State played a dynamic quarterback on the road.

Utah doesn’t have a guy like Ward. Neither does Cal or Arizona or Stanford. But The Beavs still have to play UCLA, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon. Each has a quarterback who can shred a secondary.

There are some holes that need patching in the backend of the Beaver defense.