Posted: Thursday, January 1, 2009 12:00 am
Maybe Oregon State's 3-0 Sun Bowl win Wednesday over Pittsburgh wasn't the prettiest football game ever played, but we think we speak for all of Beaver Nation when we say we liked it a lot better than that Civil War game.
The Beaver defense played Wednesday as if it still had a bad taste in its mouth from its last outing, that horrible game against Oregon when the Ducks put up 65 points and nearly 700 yards in offense. Wednesday's impressive defensive effort against Pitt eases some of that sting, but Beaver fans can't be blamed if they watch today's Rose Bowl with a tinge of regret for what might have been.
But let's pay tribute today to what Beaver Coach Mike Riley, his staff and his athletes have once again managed to achieve. The Beavers are now 5-0 in bowl games since Riley returned to coach the team in 2003. The team's winning streak in bowl games is among the longest in all of college football.
At the start of this season, sportswriters picked the Beavers to finish sixth in the Pac-10 conference. At the end of the season, the Beavers had tied for second place in the conference and were in the running for a Rose Bowl berth until the final weekend.
One of the hallmarks of a Riley-coached team is that the team gets better as the season goes along. We don't mean that as small praise: It's difficult to do in any sport, let alone football, where one or two key injuries can transform a team instantly from contenders to also-rans - just ask the New England Patriots.
In Wednesday's Sun Bowl, for example, the Beavers were without the injured Rodgers brothers, James and Jacquizz, whose spectacular play has helped to spark the OSU offense all year.
But without those two stars, other players turned in big games. In a game that featured 20 punts, OSU punter Johnny Hekker turned in his best game of the season. Victor Butler had four sacks, recovered a crucial fumble, and was named the most valuable player (and it's fitting that a defensive player get the MVP award in a 3-0 shootout). The Beaver defense held LeSean McCoy, Pitt's standout runner, to just 85 yards. Justin Kahut's 44-yard field goal provided all the points the Beavers needed.
One final note that underscores the achievement of this team: We note that the Pac-10 - after a year in which sportswriters regularly maligned the strength of the conference - is 4-0 in bowl games this season. Maybe this wasn't such a "down" year for the conference after all - maybe it's just an exceptionally tough conference with a bunch of good teams.
We're grateful, again, for what the Beavers have accomplished. This season, again, they were good ambassadors for Oregon State and for Corvallis. And, again, we start looking forward to next season.