CORVALLIS - Three quarters into Saturday's game against UCLA, the Oregon State defense looked like it was having its best outing of the season.

The Beavers had UCLA slowed to a crawl on offense. The Bruins could not put together a complete drive against an OSU defense that seemed to be coming together after a slow start to the year.

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Beavers had held UCLA to 164 yards, 39 coming on 23 run plays. It was enough for OSU to hold on for a 26-19 win in Reser Stadium.

When the Bruins tried to run, the Beavers were there. When the Bruins tried to pass, quarterback Kevin Prince often found himself dodging OSU linemen and linebackers.

This time the Beavers actually put together several sacks, finishing the game with four. That doubled their season total.

The pressure resulted in four fumbles by the Bruins, although none were turnovers.

OSU linebacker Dwight Roberson said the Beavers' defensive players had been talking during the past couple of weeks about the need to get more pressure on the quarterback from the front seven.

"We've been grinding during practice working on pass rush and blitzes and everything like that and (Saturday) we came out and the d-line got pressure," Roberson said. "Gabe (Miller), Stephen (Paea), Latu (Moala), (Kevin) Frahm, all the d-line got in there and made something happen, made the quarterback roll out of the pocket and make some bad throws."

Roberson said the Beavers have found their rhythm on defense.

"We wanted to play like this since day one. Sometimes things start off slow, but you can find your rhythm and we found our rhythm," he said. "That's what we've been talking about as a defense is we found our rhythm and now that we've got it we've got to go with it and keep it going, no falling back or making mistakes, stuff we did in the past."

Then the fourth quarter arrived. The pressure waned for a few plays and that was all the Bruins needed.

UCLA shocked the Beavers and their homecoming crowd with two big pass plays, both from Prince to Nelson Rosario. The first went for a 58-yard touchdown, the second was a 45-yarder that set up a score. The Bruins followed both touchdowns with two-point conversion passes and a game that the Beavers had controlled for three quarters was suddenly tied.

"They made good plays," Roberson said. "Teams are going to do that sometimes and you've got to be prepared for that and go out there and forget about it and keep playing another down. That's what football is all about."

OSU's offense came through, driving 70 yards for the game-winning touchdown. And the defense made the save when it had to, keeping the Bruins out of the end zone in the final minute.

"I like to think not negatively, so I wasn't thinking that," Roberson said. "I thought we were going to stop them and they weren't going to get into the end zone and they didn't, so I'm happy."

Nevertheless, it was a big change from the struggles earlier in the season. Too often, the Beavers simply could not get to the quarterback out of their four-man rush.

Last year the Beavers could count on the pass rushing skills of defensive ends Victor Butler and Slade Norris. They're now in the NFL and the Beavers are relying on young players to get similar results.

"I think these guys are going to do some stuff," OSU coach Mike Riley said. "I know what we're getting as far as effort and hard work and now we've just got to put it together."

As rough as the fourth quarter was, Saturday's win was a step in the right direction for the Beavers.

"You've always got to look at the positive side and you've also got to look at the negative side, but you can't dwell on the negative," Roberson said. "You've got to always think positive. So we're going to look at film (today) and see what we can do better and what the mistakes were that we made and correct them and next week come out and try to be perfect."