Last-second victory keeps Roses in sight

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

TUCSON, Ariz. — There’s no longer any reason to avoid the talk.

One win separates Oregon State from a Jan. 1 date in Pasadena, Calif., and a rematch with Penn State in the Rose Bowl.

Sophomore kicker Justin Kahut kept this storybook season alive with a 24-yard field goal as time expired at Arizona Stadium, lifting the No. 21 Beavers to a 19-17 Pacific-10 Conference victory over Arizona in front of 48,503.

Finally the talk of “one-game-at-a-time” and “every game is a season unto itself,” really means one game: the Civil War against Oregon at Reser Stadium next Saturday.

Win that game and the Beavers go to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1965.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” said an emotionally drained coach Mike Riley. “Everybody knows what’s at stake now.”

The Beavers (8-3, 7-1) had to rally to defeat the Wildcats (6-5, 4-4) when Justin Kahut missed a fourth-quarter extra point that would have tied the game with 3:58 left.

They started on their own 20-yard line after forcing Arizona to punt, and ran the two-minute drill to perfection with no time outs.

Kahut then won the game as time expired.

“I felt pretty confident going out there because I didn’t think that me missing the PAT was how it was going to go down,” Kahut said. “As a kicker you want to be in that situation. I was either going to be a hero or a zero, and tonight I guess I was a little bit of both.”

It was another astonishing victory in a season filled with upsets and wild games. The Beavers have won six straight and have not been shaken by what’s going on around them.

The Beavers haven’t be in this position in the Pac-10 since the 2000 Fiesta Bowl season.

Even with the conference in a down year, you would expect the team to slip under the pressure.

“You can’t put a finger on it,” Riley said. “This group rises up. They don’t do anything that’s that dramatic in a game. There’s no parting of the Red Sea. It’s just there. I love that about them. I’m humbled watching that. They don’t quit.”

Rose Bowl talk quietly started last month. It began as a distant possibility, but now it’s a reality.

A victory over rival Oregon next weekend in Reser Stadium, and the Beavers share the conference title with Southern California and head to the New Year’s Day bowl game.

“It’s awesome,” quarterback Sean Canfield said. “This will probably be the biggest game Reser Stadium has ever seen. This year has just been crazy.“

Oregon had a bye week to prepare to play the spoiler role, but it may not do any good with the way the Beavers are playing.

They were a 2.5-point underdog to the Wildcats because of being on the road and the success Arizona has had at home late in the year.

The Beavers shrugged that off and played a hard-nosed game, dealing with their own problems.

Starting quarterback Lyle Moevao couldn’t play due to a lingering sore throwing shoulder. Then standout running back Jacquizz Rodgers hurt his left shoulder in the first quarter and didn’t return.

“We didn’t blink with all that was going on,” Canfield said. “That’s what this team does. It was just awesome. I’m speechless.”

The victory over Arizona assures the Beavers at least a tie for second place in the Pac-10. To finish second, the Ducks would have to beat the Beavers, and then it’s up to the Holiday Bowl to pick between the two.

And the Holiday Bowl likes the Beavers because they’ve never been to the San Diego game.

“It means a lot,” defensive end Victor Butler said of the win. “If you win by one or 30, it always feels good. And we had a guy miss an extra point and come back to kick the winning field goal. He knew his teammates still had faith in him and he was never scared.

“I thank God for Justin Kahut.”

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