CORVALLIS - Jonathan Smith's six-year tenure at Oregon State was marked with many moments where the fan base thought he had lost his mind.

Namely, here's goes ol' Coach Smith again, rolling the dice on another fourth-down play. Often, Smith had America's best fourth-down weapon on his sideline in Jack Colletto. But it still left the Beaver fan base with the occasional queasy stomach.

Turns out, Smith was just the warm-up act for his replacement, Trent Bray. He makes Smith look like a coupon-hoarding, bargain-hunting conservative who stashes all his money in a 2% CD.

Is there a situation where Bray won't go for it on fourth down? Looks like we're about to find out this season.

Oregon State went 1 for 3 on fourth down during Saturday's 38-21 win over Purdue in Reser Stadium. While that stat doesn't jump off the page, it's worth noting there were two situations Bray said go when most coaches would have said no.

The first came on Oregon State's opening drive, when the Beavers were faced with fourth-and-1 at their 28. The play - an incomplete pass by Gevani McCoy to the sideline - not only failed to work, it gave Purdue superior field position early in the game. In the end, the defense bailed out OSU four plays later when Nikko Taylor forced a fumble inside the 10-yard line.

The second came on the Beavers' first drive of the third quarter. Oregon State, leading 17-7, put together a nice drive that stalled on fourth down at the Boilermakers 3. Rather than attempt a simple 20-yard field goal and add to the lead, Bray opted to keep the offense on the field. Purdue's defense snuffed out the fourth-down play, forcing McCoy to throw an incomplete pass.

The one successful fourth down call took place in the fourth quarter, when Anthony Hankerson ran five yards on fourth-and-2 at the Purdue 23. One play later, Hankerson ran 18 yards for a touchdown to seal the win.

After the game, it didn't appear Bray will back off the bold calls. Asked for his thought process in those situations, Bray said "the thought process is to go and win."

Bray said the offense went over numerous fourth down scenarios during the team's Friday night meeting. The first-year Beavers coach was struck by a game last week involving Kansas State, when the Wildcats went on to score a touchdown after converting a fourth down deep in their territory.

"I feel great about, in those situations, our ability. Are we going to be 100%? No, but I feel great about our guys' chances to go it. We're going to take a risk, but it's an educated risk," Bray said.

Through four games, the Beavers are hitting less than 50% of their fourth down calls, converting 5 of 11. The 45.5% conversion rate ranks 95th among FBS teams. Only six FBS teams have attempted more fourth-down plays than the Beavers.

It's not an automatic go-for-it on fourth down for Bray. Oregon State punted twice against Purdue, resulting is Josh Green punts of 49 and 57 yards.

For comparison, Smith's Beavers converted better than 50% of their fourth down attempts in five of six seasons. Twice OSU was among the top 10 in FBS, hitting 69.4% in 2018, and 69.6% in 2022. During Smith's six-year tenure, Oregon State converted fourth downs at a 61.9% clip (96 of 155).