OSU notebook

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Staff Writer

BATON ROUGE, La. — It has been said that Tiger Stadium is one of the loudest venues in sports.

Well, chalk up a key assist to the fans.

The noise played a big part in LSU's 22-21 victory over Oregon State on Saturday night.

Alexis Serna lined up to kick the game-tying extra point in overtime, but coach Mike Riley had second thoughts. He unsuccessfully tried to call a timeout to consider going for two.

"We have a timeout in overtime, and I wanted to use it," Riley said. "I didn't have my mind made up, but I wanted to think about it."

Serna hit a 40-yard field goal earlier in the game, but missed three extra points, including one on the final play.

Riley said he was more interested in winning the game than losing it on a bad kick. He thought it wasn't good for his fatigued defense to go back on the field.

"I thought it was pretty obvious to everybody that we played great defense, but we were getting tired late in the game and in that first overtime," he said.

"I was trying frantically to call a timeout, but no one heard me. It was so loud. The linesmen were so far down there, and I was already illegally on the field."

Weather report

Fifteen minutes before the scheduled start, rain started to fall. Thunder and lightning followed.

The game was postponed for 47 minutes.

Riley thought the weather may have helped the Beavers. It cooled off the rowdy fans while lowering the temperature.

"I felt it helped us because the clouds made it feel better," Riley said. "They kept saying rain would help the home team, but I don't know."

Anderson says thanks

Anderson ran up to the OSU contingent in the stands after the game, holding up his finger in victory.

"That's a long way to come, and I want to say thanks for supporting us," Anderson said.

Scary situation

OSU athletic director Bob De Carolis said the team needed to circle Tiger Stadium before the game to enter the locker room.

De Carolis said fans slowed the bus down and started shaking it.

Still winless

The Beavers have lost all four meetings with LSU.

Before this season, the teams had met in 1976, 1981 and 1982. OSU also dropped to 0-11-1 against Southeastern Conference teams. The tie came against Kentucky.

Century mark

Junior middle linebacker Trent Bray surpassed the 100-tackle mark in the first quarter. He stopped Justin Vincent for No. 100 on the first drive and tackled him again for No. 101 on the second drive.