After Oregon State nearly blew a 31-point, second-half lead, coach Mike Riley had one simple message for his team.

"Congratulations," he said.

If the Beavers want to contend in the Pac-12, Riley knows they can’t have punts blocked or kickoff returns fumbled or 13 penalties as they did in a 38-30 win over Hawaii at Aloha Stadium.

All of that will be looked at on film and the team will go to work during its bye week to correct those mistakes.

But in the moments after the final whistle Saturday, Riley was only concerned with a single statistic from the game.

The Beavers are 2-0.

"We came over here to win and, like I said, it’s going to stay over there in the win column and we’ll take it," Riley said.

If there’s one coach in the entire country who wouldn’t feel satisfied with a 38-7 lead in the third quarter against Hawaii, it’s Riley, who has seen his team suffer embarrassing nonconference losses early in the season before.

In 2011, Oregon State lost at home to FCS member Sacramento State in overtime, 29-26.

Last year, the Beavers lost to another FCS foe in Eastern Washington, giving up 49 points in a three-point loss.

Portland State led Oregon State at halftime last week and OSU was outscored 23-7 in the second half on Saturday.

Yet, the Beavers have won their first two games for only the second time in the past five years.

"Our team knows we need to close games a little better than that," quarterback Sean Mannion said. "It was a gritty, tough win against a good football team."

Mannion, who decided against entering the NFL Draft after his junior season, carried his team in the first half, completing 16 of 23 throws for 207 yards and two touchdowns as Oregon State built a 31-7 halftime lead.

He was 10-for-14 in the second half but wasn’t given many opportunities to throw the ball deep. That, along with critical special teams errors, allowed Hawaii to get back into the game and attempt an onside kick down eight with 1:35 left.

"I got stuck in the middle of continuing to throw (or not)," Riley said. "I probably should have."

Riley should have complete trust in Mannion, who broke the Pac-12 single-season passing record last year.

He finished with 300 passing yards against Hawaii and threw three touchdown passes to give him 72 for his career, passing Saint Louis and Washington State alum Jason Gesser into a tie for 11th on the Pac-12 career list.

He’s now 1,211 passing yards away from breaking Matt Barkley’s Pac-12 career record.

Mannion got his second win at Aloha Stadium less than nine months after leading the Beavers to a 38-23 win over Boise State in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

Instead of playing on Christmas Eve, the goal this year is to play closer to New Year’s Day.

"I think it’s a good sign when you have eight (receivers) catching the ball," Mannion said. "We’ve got to pride ourselves when there are four or five minutes left (in the game) to be the last ones with the ball, but we made a lot of strides out here and will get better from this."