oregon state's norman peters kicked the opening kickoff. duke's tommy davis collected the ball at his own five-yard line. he was crushed by the beavers' lloyd wickett and two other beavers and fumbled. oregon state recovered inside the blue devil 30. the duke defense would hold. the teams traded possession most of the first quarter. on third-and-six at the blue devil 15, oregon state's donald durdan went back to pass. with no receiver open, he pump faked and took off to his right with nothing in front of him but the end zone to put the beavers up 7-0. in the second quarter, duke would tie the score at seven with a four-yard run on a reverse by steve lach. oregon state's ensuing drive resulted in an interception at the 46, which was returned to the beaver 27. on third-and-nine, the blue devils had a wide open receiver behind the beaver defense, but the pass was just beyond the receiver's outstretched fingertips and fell incomplete. duke ultimately turned the ball over on downs. the blue devils would threaten again late in the first half after an oregon state fumble gave duke a first down at the beaver 32. two plays later, though, the oregon state defense forced a fumble after a sack, which was recovered by the beavers. as the half was coming to a close, duke drove to the oregon state 42. two passes were dropped by blue devil receivers. the third was caught at the beaver 10 and advanced to the beaver 5. however, duke was unable to get a subsequent play off before halftime, and the teams entered the locker rooms tied 7-7.