OSU notebook

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Staff writer

Oregon State's defensive players needed to remember what they are capable of doing, and it was Keith Ellison who showed them what was missing.

The junior outside linebacker played his best game of the year in the Beavers' 17-7 win over New Mexico on Saturday.

Ellison led the team in tackles with eight; four of them were for losses. There were three quarterback sacks, and he forced a fumble.

"That was fun," Ellison said. "The best part was we won."

OSU allowed only 114 total yards, 10 first downs and didn't give up any points. New Mexico's only score came on a fumble return.

"We were upset we gave up 53 points to Boise State last week," Ellison said. "That's not what we do on defense. We were embarrassed last week to say the least. We were on a mission to shut them out."

After finishing as the seventh-best defense in the nation last year, the Beavers' ability to repeat was in question when they gave up nearly 500 yards last week. This game couldn't come fast enough for the players to prove that it was just an off night.

"The way we played last week, people thought our defense was horrible," Ellison said. "We practiced all week to shut them down, and that's what we pretty much did."

Mobile quarterbacks have been the problem, and New Mexico's Kole McKamey was another one. However, he was knocked out the game with a concussion in the second quarter. Ellison's big hits were part of the cause.

"It definitely was a focus this week," Ellison said of the mobile quarterback. "The last two weeks we played mobile quarterbacks, and they got loose on us. This week we focused more on the scrambling quarterback by just being aware of it."

Besides the limited yards, OSU forced three turnovers. Bill Swancutt recovered a fumble caused by Ellison, and Aric Williams and Sabby Piscitelli picked off passes.

"Our defense was very well prepared by our defensive staff," coach Mike Riley said. "There was a lot of pride. They took it to heart when people were talking about where the old Oregon State defense went."

Mobile quarterback

Senior quarterback Derek Anderson made a name for himself as a strong-armed, drop-back pocket passer. Running the option is not his forte.

However, Anderson showed some scrambling ability Saturday. When protection broke down in the second quarter, he tucked the ball under his arm and gained 21 yards.

His career-best run kept a 69-yard drive alive. It ended with the first touchdown of the game, a 7-yard pass from Anderson to Joe Newton.

"It was all adrenaline," Anderson said. "Every yard counts."

Kicking controversy

Alexis Serna has made two fields goals and missed three extra points. John Dailey is 6-for-6 on extra points, but has missed two field goals.

So who's kicking next week?

"That's the way of the world, and we'll just keep going," Riley said. "We'll decide later in the week."

The letdown

Coming off a record-breaking performance last weekend, Mike Hass wasn't likely to duplicate his 293 receiving yards.

It didn't help that New Mexico paid extra attention to the junior: He only grabbed five passes for 60 yards.

Family connection

New Mexico's backup quarterback Tali Ena has family ties to OSU. His brother was a defensive end for the Beavers from 1994-95 when Lobos coach Rocky Long was the defensive coordinator.