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A Good Day to be a Beaver!

The Official Sports Report

for September 26, 2008





Giant Killers... Again

Commentary Exclusive to Beavers OSR

by Brian Brooks, Managing Editor

CORVALLIS, OR - A little over a hundred miles south of Corvallis, near the town of Gold Hill, there's a tourist attraction called the Oregon Vortex.

By my description, it's an outdoor funhouse replete with optical illusions and tour guides giving pseudo-scientific explanations for what the visitors think they see. Objects hang from the ceiling at odd angles. People appear to shrink and grow taller merely by walking from one end of a wood board to the other. Balls roll and water runs uphill.

As described on its website:

The Oregon Vortex is a glimpse of a strange world where the improbable is the commonplace and everyday physical facts are reversed. It is an area of naturally occurring visual and perceptual phenomena, which can be captured on film. No matter your education or profession you will find a challenge to all your accepted theories.

Sound like anywhere else you know?

On a cool September evening before 42,389 fans aglow in equal parts orange and outright delirium, Reser Stadium and the Beavers once again spun their combined magic... once again at the expense of the USC Trojans.

Unlike the Oregon Vortex, the odd happenings at Reser don't require a basis in science or belief in the paranormal. All the proof you need is on the scoreboard, and after sixty minutes of football that particular data would read Oregon State 27, USC 21.

This was not bad science, and this was no fluke. For almost the entire sixty minutes, it was utter and complete domination by a team expected to be steamrollered by most college football "experts". In fact, for the entire first half, the game was nowhere near as close as the final score would indicate.

Oregon State won the coin toss, and from that point

forward the beat-down was on. The Beaver defense played like they had something to prove and, if they did, they certainly don't anymore. They made their presence known from the very first snap, when they stopped a Mark Sanchez to Joe McKnight sideline pass for a gain of exactly one yard. The Trojans proceeded to go three-and-out on their first possession.

Next, the Beaver offense led by Lyle Moevao would neatly and efficiently pick apart the much-lauded USC defense as easily as they marched on Hawaii's twelve days ago.

On the eighth play of their first possession, OSU went up 7-0 when Moevao completed a screen pass to James Rodgers, who was able to turn the corner and get the ball across the goal line despite being horse-collared out of bounds in the process.

After two more USC possessions ended in futility, the Beaver offense executed another sustained drive, led by an offensive line that opened hole after hole for Quizz and gave Moevao the time he needed to find his receivers - most notably a 14-yard strike to Sammie Stroughter for a first down at the USC 2-yard line. The very next play Quizz would do the rest, scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run with 7:38 left in the first half to make the score 14-0, Oregon State.

By then, the feeling in the stadium was euphoric, if not somewhat guarded. Was this merely a quick start that could be erased quickly and easily by the mighty Trojans?

Yet, in that first half, there wasn't a single sign of life from USC. I know... weird. Credit Moevao and company for masterfully executing Part One of the game plan: keeping the USC offense off the field.

When the USC offense did take the field, the Beaver defense made sure they didn't stay long. They proved something, alright. They proved they could stop the run - against one of the nation's best, most versatile offenses. Head Coach Mike Riley has said on more than one occasion that if you can stop the run, and run the ball yourself, you put yourself in a pretty good position to win.

A number of first-half stats are notable, but I think Coach might like these in particular:

USC running back Joe McKnight ran for a total of six yards.

The USC offense managed just three first downs. They usually rack up that many in their first possession.

Quizz had 105 yards rushing with over four minutes to play in the half.

Not too shabby. And the half couldn't have ended any better. Moevao connected on another short pass to James Rodgers with four seconds remaining to send OSU to the locker room with an stunning 21-0 lead.

The game wasn't a sellout, but you sure couldn't tell by the decibels pumping out of Reser. The chants of O-S-U led continuously by the cheerleaders would rival those of any European soccer team anthem.

At halftime, Coach Riley told his players not to get carried away by the score, and to continue to play with focus and intensity on every single down. Good words from Coach, to be sure, but the second thirty minutes of football would start in a much different manner than the first.

USC opened the third quarter looking much like the steamroller many expected would dominate the evening. Two quick, efficient third-quarter scoring drives would cut the Beaver lead to 21-14 with just under three minutes to play in the third quarter.

The momentum had shifted. Now is when a good football team has to go and get the momentum back. And in a game full of impressive defensive stands, the biggest of those may have come with 10:57 left in the game. A partially blocked Johnny Hekker punt took a fortuitous roll and pinned the Trojans deep in their own territory at the 6-yard line. The Beaver defense rose to the occasion, clamped down hard, and held USC to yet another three-and-out series of downs.

USC had the ball for less than a minute. Pick your own turning point for the game, but that possession gets my vote.

Later in the fourth the Beavers appeared to put the game

on ice when, with USC again trying to move the ball deep in their own territory, safety Greg Laybourn picked off a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it 28-yards to the USC 2-yard line. On the next play Quizz, who would finish with 186 yards rushing on 37 carries, plunged across the goal line for his second touchdown of the night. The PAT by Sean Sehnem failed, but Oregon State still extended their lead to 27-14.

It turned out to be a score they would need.

As fans crowded along the sideline readying to rush the field, USC put together one final scoring drive, reaching the end zone when Patrick Turner hauled in a 14-yard scoring strike from Sanchez to make the score 27-21. The drive took such little time that the exodus of students from the stands may have seemed premature.

But by then there simply wasn't enough time left. An onside kick attempt failed, Moevao went down on his knee three times, and David had slain Goliath. Cue the students. Cue the fireworks. Cue the headlines we all will undoubtedly clip from our local papers tomorrow. The Beavers had done it yet again.

Tomorrow, I'm emailing my friends at OSU Sports Info to see if any statistician or archivist will be able to answer the question I posed earlier this week in the OSR:

What team has EVER knocked off the nation's Number Three, Number Two, and Number One ranked teams over three consecutive regular seasons - not counting Bowl games. I can't imagine that happening, even by a perennial powerhouse.

Chalk up another spectacular achievement for Mike Riley and his staff. In 1967, Coach Riley was in the stands watching his dad help coach the Beavers to an equally improbable win over OJ Simpson's USC Trojans. As we all know, that Dee Andros team would become known as the Giant Killers.

In his post-game meeting with the media, Riley reflected on that bit of history and its connection to the present. "To be part of that history (in 1967), and then have the chance to coach at that same school and have this kind of success, it's very special," he said. "And every day I'm thankful for the opportunity."

So are we, Coach. So are we.

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