Oregon State collects a 38-19 victory over Washington State

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Mid-Valley Sports

CORVALLIS — When the Oregon State football team's coaches drew up how games should unfold this season, Saturday's performance was what they had in mind.

Everything the Beavers needed to accomplished, happened in their 38-19 Pacific-10 Conference victory over Washington State before a sellout homecoming crowd of 36,265.

O

SU controlled the game with a diversified passing offense and complementary running game. The defense pressured a mobile quarterback and forced three turnovers. The special teams even made a couple of key plays.

The Beavers (3-4, 2-2) have won two in a row

and improved their postseason chances, needing to win three of the next four games.

"This one was real important in just getting to a bowl game," middle linebacker Trent Bray said. "We are starting to improve. We're starting to play like we're capable of

playing, so that's very encouraging."

Washington State (3-4, 1-3), however, has lost three games in a row. That's the first time that has happened to the program since 2000.

"We didn't play very well," WSU coach Bill Doba said. "They played much better tha

n we did. We dropped interceptions. We weren't making good plays on the ball and just played poorly."

The OSU players were walking around during and after the game with more confidence, and believe the season has turned around after such a poor start. They

are looking forward to evening up their record next week at Arizona.

"It feels good to get that monkey off our back," cornerback Brandon Browner said. "We have to get back to .500. Everyone is doing well. We just have to keep doing what we are doing — kee

p the intensity up out there."

Success began with the offensive linemen. They opened enough holes for the team to produce 171 yards with strong games from tailbacks Ryan Cole and Dwight Wright.

Cole led the team with 104 yards on 12 carries. The bulk of hi

s yardage came on a 79-yard run in the third quarter. Wright did most of the work with 21 carries for 79 yards.

"We felt pretty confident we were going to be able to move the ball by running the ball," right tackle Doug Nienhuis said. "We saw things in the

week on them."

The Cougars frequently blitzed, but were often in the wrong area. The linebackers also held back, looking for pass plays. That allowed the running backs to break off steady runs of three and four yards once they slipped by the defensive lin

e.

"We're not where we want to be, but it was sure good," OSU coach Mike Riley said. "The difference in that game was being able to run the ball with a little bit of consistency, but not what we want. (Cole had) a nice run, but it was well blocked at an op

portune time. We hit the right defense and right blocking."

Quarterback Derek Anderson completed 18 of 39 for 270 yards and three touchdowns. He found Marcel Love, Pat Loney and Wright on scoring plays. His one interception was tipped at the line.

Mike Ha

ss and Love continue to be Anderson's favorite targets, catching five passes each.

Anderson moved into second place on OSU's all-time career passing yards list in the first quarter. The senior has 9,627 yards, which surpasses Erik Wilhelms' mark of 9,393.

Jonathan Smith is the leader with 9,680.

He also moved into a tie for seventh place for career touchdowns in the Pac-10 with 64, which matches California's Kyle Boller.

Riley's biggest cause for celebration was the performance of the special teams. There w

ere a couple of mistakes, but there was improved play in the coverage and return teams.

Punter Sam Paulescu connected on a key 69-yard punt, which was partially blocked in the second quarter. The Beavers were pinned deep on their 10-yard line at the time.

He ended up with six punts for a 45.7-yard average.

"I'm really excited about our specialists because last week (place-kicker) Alexis (Serna) played such a major role in the game, and I thought Sam was a big deal (on Saturday)," Riley said. "We said going

into the game our punt team was going to play a major role, and I just hoped positively. We did a nice job, and it was a major part."

The only problem was long snapper Darrick Bruns sent a high snap to Paulescu that resulted in a safety in the third quarte

r when the ball rolled out of the back of the end zone.

The Cougars gained 320 total yards, but the Beavers regularly stopped them with 10 drives ending in punts. There were interceptions by Mitch Meeuwsen and Aric Williams, while Joe Rudulph recovered a f

umble forced by Bill Swancutt.

"Defensively, we let them move the ball a little bit, but we put the stops to them," Riley said.

Williams and Browner were the reason for the defense's success. They covered their wide outs well enough that first-time starter

Alex Brink was scrambling much of the day. OSU registered four sacks, and hurried Brink six times.

"We've come a long way, especially mentally," Anderson said. "No one believed in us. But we got back to work and we've been doing some good things."