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Six years later, after another homecoming visit to Rice-Eccles Stadium with another team resulted in a similar outcome, Gary Andersen fielded pretty much the same question Saturday night.

Encouraged? Or discouraged?

That's a tricky subject, actually.

Oregon State's 27-12 loss to No. 13 Utah provided sufficient material for either response, and Andersen swung back and forth — with his tone ultimately trending toward unhappiness.

That's his only choice after a defeat, of course.

"I'm very discouraged, because we had some opportunities," Andersen said. "I do continually see improvement and toughness. … The kids came back and battled like crazy. … I'm never going to be encouraged when we lose."

The reality is hitting home for this program in Andersen's first year in Corvallis, with OSU standing 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the Pac-12. The Beavers are down to four opportunities to avoid a winless conference season, facing UCLA, California, Washington and Oregon in November.

If the Salt Lake City native thought reviving Utah State's downtrodden program required the best coaching he would ever have to do, he was logically right and practically wrong. The four-year turnaround that launched him from Logan to Wisconsin and then Oregon State began with a 35-17 defeat at Utah in September 2009.

"I'm proud of my team … [but] we had way too many missed opportunities," Andersen said that night, when a competitive showing was a reasonably good sign for the Aggies.

Same story for the Beavers, in Andersen's latest return. They did enough good things to make this game more interesting than about anyone figured — especially after Utah's first two drives — and made Ute fans agonize more than they anticipated having to do on Halloween against the Pac-12's worst team. Yet like that '09 opener vs. USU, when Utah was coming off an unbeaten season, this game was fully satisfying to nobody.

In the end, OSU's performance represented progress. That's not necessarily comforting, considering the Beavers never truly threatened to win the game.

They did manage to make the Utes worry until the last 90 seconds, when OSU freshman quarterback Nick Mitchell threw a fourth-down incompletion at the Utah 17-yard line in a two-score game. But making the other guys feel frustrated after winning is not an accomplishment in itself.

Injuries to two offensive linemen and both cornerbacks made the Beavers improvise Saturday, and they succeeded to some degree. Defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake designed his most complex schemes of the year, by Andersen's account, in an effort to stop Devontae Booker on the ground.

Booker finished with 121 yards, about half of his total last October against OSU and nowhere near what he appeared on his way to doing as of the first quarter. "Kalani has done a nice job with the defense," Ute coach Kyle Whittingham said.

The Utes opened the game with 12 straight running plays on a 75-yard scoring march, then drove 90 yards for another score with Travis Wilson hitting a wide-open Harrison Handley down the sideline for a 39-yard touchdown. Just like that, it was 14-0, and the Beavers appeared to be as overmatched as they were against Michigan, Arizona and Washington State.

But after allowing 176 yards in the first quarter, the Beavers held Utah to 92 yards in the next two periods. It helped that OSU's offense controlled the ball, although the Beavers settled for two field goals and added a touchdown only after trailing 24-6 in the fourth quarter.

Afterward, Andersen spoke of needing to "make special plays in special situations." The Beavers will handle things better, he said, "as we continue to grow up."

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt