A final push to determine if this is a special season, or just a typical one, begins tonight.

The Oregon State football team faced an odd schedule this season filled with Thursday night games, byes and mini byes. Now they end the regular season with five straight Saturday games.

The first contest of that stretch is against Pacific-10 Conference rival Arizona State at 7:15 tonight in Reser Stadium, so there’s no time to rest or lose focus with the opportunity to reach the Rose Bowl there if the Beavers (4-3, 3-1) win out.

“It’s the way it is,” coach Mike Riley said of the schedule. “We’ve had a funny year with the schedule. We haven’t many normal weeks back-to-back, but we are in that now, and I think that’s a good thing. The injury thing will tell. But the schedule has been nice, and now we have to head off into the next set of games to determine our identity.”

Several nagging injuries healed up last week during the final bye of the season. All of the primary players on the team are available.

Offensive tackle Andy Levitre is the only starter not at full strength. He has been sick all week, but should be ready to play.

The question now is if the Beavers can maintain their momentum. They have won four of their last five games, and were in position to win that fifth game.

They know they must win tonight in order to begin their annual strong finish.

“As a football player you want that,” defensive end Victor Butler said of the steady grind of games. “The bye week dragged. You want to be the one out there with people watching you. We don’t want the breather. We’ll do fine jumping game-to-game because our coaches do a good job of preparing us.”

Riley has instilled the one-game-at-a-time mantra into his players. They know that if they fall against ASU (2-5, 1-3) any major bowl dreams slip away.

For every defeat now, postseason opportunities diminish. They still need two more wins just to be bowl eligible.

“The position we are in, it’s a really great position for our team,” quarterback Lyle Moevao said. “We’ve worked really hard to be where we are at. We still have a five-game stretch, and it’s going to be tough. Nothing is going to be given to us. The team can’t have a letdown coming off a bye week.”

The Beavers are 13½-point favorites, but playing Arizona State isn’t easy. The Sun Devils own a 24-9-1 edge in the series and are 6-6-1 when they are the visitors.

Making it even more difficult this year is Arizona State is on the verge of a complete collapse, having lost five straight while not playing well.

The Sun Devils may be due for a win.

“We talked about how this is a dangerous team,” Riley said. “They are also searching for the last stretch run to form an identity. They do have good talent, and a lot of potential. They have played some very good teams.”

Arizona State’s losses have been to UNLV, Georgia, California, Southern California and Oregon.

Part of the problem is standout quarterback Rudy Carpenter isn’t moving at full speed after an ankle injury suffered on Oct. 11. He’s playing through the pain and healing slowly.

Overall, injuries have taken a toll on ASU’s roster.

“When you have a team like this, you still have to prepare hard like a USC or Penn State,” Butler said. “This is a team that the record doesn’t reflect their ability or capability. They’ve had hard times, so they are hungry to win.”

Arizona State’s running game is ranked ninth in the Pac-10 at 87 yards a game and the scoring offense produces only 19.3 points a game, which is eighth-best in the conference.

OSU’s defense should be able to handle the Sun Devils. It stops the run well and can go after a hobbled quarterback aggressively.

“We just have to focus this week, and play Beaver football,” receiver James Rodgers said. “Coming off a bye, some teams might not be on point. We just have to come out 100 percent and not be rusty this week. We are just taking it one game at a time. No game is a cakewalk. Every game is meaningful to us.”