Oregon State earns bowl eligibility, while denying Huskies the same

CORVALLIS — No matter how the season concludes now, it must be considered a success.

The Oregon State football team overcame several obstacles that started coming its way before training camp opened. Most teams would have crumbled in the face of the turmoil. Not the Beavers.

They scratched and clawed their way to bowl eligibility, and the potential for an above average season remains.

A wild 29-23 victory over Washington in a Pacific-10 Conference game before a record-crowd of 45,629 in Reser Stadium gave OSU its sixth win.

At times in the third quarter the game looked more like a boxing match, but the win assures the Beavers (6-4, 4-3) at least a .500 record. That’s the minimum to be considered for the postseason.

It also knocked the Huskies (3-7, 1-6) out of bowl contention.

Now it’s on to improving OSU’s status with next week’s game at Washington State and the Dec. 1 Civil War in Eugene. One of the better upper mid-tier bowls is within reach.

It’s possible because of the way other conference teams are knocking each other off. Free-falling UCLA and California are helping OSU’s cause.

With what can be controlled, the Beavers match up well with the Cougars. And while Oregon is a juggernaut this year, they wouldn’t mind spoiling its national title aspirations.

Overcoming the Ducks could put the perfect cap on a trying year.

The Beavers reached this point without: a regular punter who quit the team; an All-American wide receiver and punt returner to a kidney injury; and their top offensive lineman from a broken leg for seven games.

Put that together with a first-year sophomore quarterback trying to find his way, and it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the season went south early on.

What happened this year was the Beavers evolved into a program with a long-term plan, not just a team that can put together success every once in a while.

Enough player development happened to allow the team to keep going.

Backup quarterback Lyle Moevao was pressed into service against Washington. Sean Canfield was out with a shoulder injury suffered last week at Southern California.

With Canfield questionable for next week, Moevao showed he can run the offense. He threw the ball accurately, scrambled when needed and made smart decisions.

It was more difficult in the second half with an interception on his first pass out of halftime. He fumbled on the next drive when he was hit from behind.

He remained focused and threw his first career touchdown pass later in the game.

Tailback Yvenson Bernard wasn’t at full strength from his shoulder injury, but carried his usual load and ran the ball aggressively.

Other tests to the team’s depth was in the secondary and the offensive line. The line was a big issue from the start of the season.

It held together while offensive guard Jeremy Perry recovered from a broken leg and the recent loss to Tavita Thompson to ineligibility.

Perry made his return this week, and brought his brute force, expertise and fiery attitude. That helped the running game and Moevao’s time to pass.

Offensive success came with linemen playing out of position just to get the best available athletes on the field.

All this came about in the wake of a poorly controlled game. There were four ejections and sloppy play when emotions got out of control in the second half.

It started when OSU safety Al Afalava knocked out Washington quarterback Jake Locker with a clean facemask hit to the back of the head. Locker was taken to the hospital in the second quarter.

The Huskies made problems worse when they kept hitting Afalava late, but there were no penalties.

At the end of the half a Washington player pulled off Bernard’s face mask and punched him in the face at the bottom of a pileup. Again no, flags were thrown.

That enraged normally mellow OSU coach Mike Riley. He went off on the officials for the poor job they were doing protecting players.

It was predictable that the problems escalated. OSU’s Bryan Payton, Brandon Hughes and James Dockery were ejected in two different situations in the third quarter.

The Beavers regained their composure and finished off the Huskies with a bowl game in their future.

Cliff Kirkpatrick covers the Oregon State football team for the Corvallis Gazette-Times. He can be reached at cliff.kirkpatrick@lee.net