D.J. Welch: Pac-12 Defensive Player Of Week

RAISE YOUR HAND if you saw this one coming. Oregon State sophomore linebacker D.J. Welch, who was huge in the Beavers’ win over then-No. 13 Wisconsin on Saturday, has been named the Pac-12 Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week.

D.J. Welch, a native of Palm Desert, Calif., set a career-high with seven tackles while making his first career start. Two of those tackles went for loss (minus-8) as he and the Beavers’ defense limited the Badgers to just 207 yards of total offense, including 35 on the ground.

The thing was, his performance was even better than it shows on paper.

Welch and Oregon State snapped Wisconsin running back Montee Ball’s touchdown streak at 21 games and ended the Badgers’ regular season non-conference winning streak at 33 games.

Welch’s honor is the Beavers’ first of the season and is the team’s first defensive player of the week award since Scott Crichton on Oct. 24 of last season.

The Beavers have a bye this week and will next take the field on Sept. 22 when visiting UCLA. That game, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., is slated for a 12:30 p.m. PT kickoff and can be seen live on ABC on the West Coast (ESPN2 in the rest of the country.)

Oregon State returns home to Reser Stadium when hosting Washington State on Oct. 6. Tickets for that game, and more, can be purchased by going online at beavertickets.com, visiting the ticket office at Gill Coliseum (weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.) or calling 1-800-GOBEAVS.