CORVALLIS - Well, Lyle Moevao isn't having any shoulder problems, anyway.

Moevao was forced to give his often sore throwing shoulder a hefty workout on Saturday in Reser Stadium.

Oregon State found itself down early in the Civil War and trailed 37-17 at the half.

Moevao had to throw to get the Beavers back into the game. That meant a quick recovery from a training session at halftime to get a few body parts back in working order.

"Yeah, we definitely didn't come out the way we wanted to," Moevao said. "We usually want to come out on offense, coming out of the gates explosive, being able to run and pass on the opposing team and then continue that on throughout the game, but it never really clicked starting off. Then we really didn't get going until the second quarter and the second half."

The Beavers fell short, losing 65-38, but it wasn't for lack of effort by Moevao. He completed 27 of 51 passes for 374 yards and five touchdowns. He had two interceptions, both returned for touchdowns.

"I thought he was real good," OSU coach Mike Riley said. "I thought the interception for a touchdown, the first one, I don't think that was a great decision. He probably could have made a better choice on that ball, but besides that, I thought he made a ton of plays, battled like crazy. Basically kept giving us a chance to be back to 13 to give us a chance to maybe make a move to get back in the game for real."

Moevao brought the Beavers within 13 three times in the second half before Oregon put the game away.

OSU made it 37-24 in the third, then 44-31 and 51-38 and kept hope of a trip to Pasadena alive until late in the game.

"I thought it was pretty phenomenal how we were doing that and moving the ball, them knowing we were pretty much going to pass," Riley said.

The Beavers were without Jacquizz Rodgers. The effect was evident early in the game as the Beavers struggled to get in sync.

The ground game never did get rolling for OSU. James Rodgers led the Beavers with 56 yards. Jacquizz Rodgers' replacement, Ryan McCants, managed 32 yards on 10 carries.

Jeremy Francis had four yards rushing but caught five passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.

Moevao said the Beavers missed Jacquizz Rodgers.

"Yeah, I think it would have been a lot different," Moevao said. "But those guys did a good job of running the ball today. We knew they were going to key in on our fly sweep and be able to try and stack the box when those guys were in. It's just unfortunate that they did it and they were able to pull it off."

Moevao spread the ball to 10 receivers and had touchdown passes to four of them, including tight ends Brady Camp and Joe Halahuni.

"We're always confident in our offense and that we're able to put points up on the board," Moevao said. "We were able to do that later on in the game, have a little shootout between our offense and their offense, but you can't start off slow against a team like that."