Emerald Bowl practice began Monday night for the Oregon State football team, and coach Mike Riley already made a major decision.

He’s going to start quarterback Lyle Moevao instead of Sean Canfield, who is expected back to practice this week for the first time since injuring his throwing shoulder at Southern California on Nov. 3.

Moevao is on a three-game winning streak as a starter with victories against Washington, Washington State and Oregon.

He has been efficient by completing 45 of 87 for 556 yards and two touchdown passes, but most significantly he has gained the trust of the team.

“Lyle is going to start,” Riley said after practice. “It’s based on what we know. Sean will be ready to play because he’s played well for us. However, Lyle has done well and led us to three victories, so there’s no need to change.”

The season began with a quarterback rotation between the two. By the third game Canfield took control of the position.

He went 4-3 as the starter. There were two games to begin the season when both played when the team went 1-1.

If Canfield is ready for the Emerald Bowl, Riley won’t force him into the game or plan his playing time to help prepare for next season.

“I don’t have any plans to do that,” Riley said. “We don’t usually do that. We did it at the start of the year, but we haven’t done it since then. Lyle is just our starting quarterback.”

Bowl practice

The first practice for the bowl game wasn’t about what Maryland does. It was laid back and focused around the younger players — those who redshirted this season and rarely used underclassmen.

Drills were done for 30 minutes and then it went into an hour of running plays. Riley liked their progression from the start of training camp in August to now.

“It was very good, a lot of good stuff,” Riley said. “There was a lot of good work. We can run plays and it looks like football once in a while, and that’s a good thing.”

The full squad practices today with the rookies being the focal point for the last time on Wednesday.

“It was good to get back to basics,” freshman linebacker Keith Pankey said. “It was good to not have the older guys around so the coaches could work with us and not worry about getting ready for a game.”

Everybody eligible

It’s not official until Wednesday, but there were no academic casualties from the fall term. Everyone made grades and are progressing toward their degrees.

“Everybody is here,” Riley said. “I had an academic meeting this morning and everything looks copasetic.”

Offensive lineman Tavita Thompson is not eligible until next season. The junior began the season as the starting left tackle, but was ruled ineligible at midseason by the NCAA for an undisclosed reason.

Bernard resting

Starting senior tailback Yvenson Bernard is still recovering from minor knee surgery on Nov. 14. He won’t practice this week, but is expected to return full speed next week.

“We anticipate him having a good week of working out and practicing full speed next week,” Riley said.

Ticket update

OSU already sold more than 7,000 tickets to the Emerald Bowl. That’s the second most for a postseason game after the 2001 Fiesta Bowl.

That puts the Beavers above the minimum 5,750 they are responsible for, which is half of their 11,500 allotment. If they don’t sell them all the Pacific-10 Conference buys the rest.