CORVALLIS - It should have been an easy contest, but where's the fun in that?

The Oregon State football team played a well-rounded game for three-plus quarters Saturday afternoon, but still needed to rally for the win in the final seconds.

James Rodgers scored the game-winning touchdown with 44 seconds left on a 17-yard end-around, and the Beavers defeated Pacific-10 Conference rival UCLA 26-19 before a crowd of 41,009 in Reser Stadium.

"The guys did a great job up front blocking, and so did the receivers down field," Rodgers said. "Coach (Mike Riley) has been harping on that a lot, for the receivers to make touchdown blocks and we made some today."

OSU (5-3, 3-2) led 16-3 going into the fourth quarter, but the Bruins (3-5, 0-5) came back to tie the game at 19-19 with 2:06 left. UCLA found its rhythm passing to move the ball.

The Beavers kept their composure and put together a seven-play, 70-yard final drive. Then the defense held back one last shot by UCLA.

"I give them a lot of credit," Riley said. "They kept playing. They are a good defensive team. The offense then got more confidence. It's bang, bang they are back in it. We appeared ahead statistically and on the scoreboard, and then there they are."

Quarterback Sean Canfield played a good game after a slow start, but nearly threw the game away on the first play of the final drive.

He threw a pass in the flat to Rodgers, but misread the defense. He didn't see UCLA move to a Cover II with the cornerback creeping up on Rodgers.

Rodgers noticed the change and ran to the inside, but Canfield didn't make the adjustment and threw behind Rodgers. The pass surprised Alterraun Verner and he dropped the ball.

Had he caught the ball it could have been an easy touchdown and the Bruins would have won the game.

"That's twice that has happened now (this season)," Canfield said of that particular mistake. "We've got to clean that up. It could have been really bad."

Even though there were 463 yards of total offense, the Beavers weren't as explosive as usual. They had to settle for four Justin Kahut field goals when drives stalled.

"Those field goals have to be touchdowns," Canfield said. "You saw how close it came at the end. It's just the little things again."

Running back Jacquizz Rodgers shook off his sore ankle from last weekend and was an all-around offensive threat. He gained 204 all-purpose yards, 112 rushing.

The Beavers added a wrinkle to the Wildcat offense, which they now call the Wild Beaver, with Jacquizz Rodgers passing for a touchdown. He hit tight end Brady Camp with a 14-yard scoring pass in the second quarter.

"That play, we've been working on it for three weeks now," Rodgers said. "It was an easy throw because Brady was wide open. I was happy. It was my first throwing touchdown. And I could have thrown it just up in the air. He was that wide open."

After eight games the Beavers are still working on putting all the parts of a game together. They can play well in all areas but not together often enough.

However, the bottom line was the victory, and it put the Beavers one win away from bowl eligibility. It also helped build momentum, particularly for the defense.

"It's a big win at this stage of the year, to have five wins right now," Riley said. "Now we can see what we can do in this conference. It will be fun."

Cliff Kirkpatrick covers the Oregon State football team for the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

He can be reached at cliff.kirkpatrick@lee.net. Read more about the Beavers on his blog at cliffkirkpatrick@mvourtown.com