Pac-10: Beavers clinging to Rose Bowl hopes

The Oregon State Beavers lost their starting quarterback, something that happens way too frequently in the Pac-10 this season, but they won anyway, keeping their Rose Bowl hopes intact, no matter how far flung.

Lyle Moevao, the league’s leading passer, had to leave Saturday night’s game against Arizona State with a first-half shoulder injury. In came former starter Sean Canfield, still getting his bearings after offseason shoulder surgery, and he threw two touchdowns in a 27-25 victory in Corvallis, Ore.

The Beavers (5-3, 4-1 Pac-10) haven’t been to Pasadena for the postseason since 1965, but they’ve already upset league favorite USC (7-1, 5-1 Pac-10) and can earn some rare New Year’s Day exposure by beating, in order, UCLA, California, Arizona and Oregon should the Trojans win out.

“We’re just going to try and win the rest of our games and whatever happens, happens,” said Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State’s standout freshman running back, while fans held up signs that proclaimed “Beavs Rose Bowl” and “61 days to the Rose Bowl.”

The Beavers may have to do it, at least part of the way, without Moevao, who was driven hard into the ground by Arizona State defensive end Dexter Davis and was unable to play again. The junior quarterback took off his shoulder pads and turned spectator in the second half. At least he found something highly entertaining to watch.

Arizona State pushed the Beavers to the final seconds, coming up with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Rudy Carpenter to tight end Andrew Pettes with 21 seconds before Carpenter’s two-point conversion pass for the tie was intercepted in the end zone by Oregon State senior defensive end Victor Strong-Butler.

Canfield entered the game having made just two token appearances this season, relief stints in blowouts over the hapless Washington schools. He had thrown only two passes, completing one for a touchdown. Against the Sun Devils, he connected on 19 of 28 attempts for 218 yards and the two scores, overcoming a third-quarter interception returned 41 yards for a TD by Arizona State free safety Troy Nolan.

“I had to step up,” Canfield said. “It was time for me to be healthy. I took advantage of my opportunity.”

Pac-10 quarterbacks have become as endangered this season as the polar bear. Besides Moevao, California (6-2, 4-1 Pac-10) lost sophomore starter Kevin Riley to a first-half concussion, bringing senior Nate Longshore off the bench to preserve a 26-16 victory over Oregon.

Washington State (1-8, 0-6 Pac-10) went with a third starting quarterback, junior Kevin Lopina, in a 58-0 thumping at Stanford, and played a fifth quarterback this season, freshman J.T. Levenseller, removing his redshirt status in the process.

Winless Washington (0-8, 0-5 Pac-10) remains totally lost without sophomore quarterback Jake Locker, likely out for the season with a broken thumb, requiring redshirt freshman Ronnie Fouch to carry the load. So far, Fouch hasn’t been up to the task, as Saturday’s 56-0 rout at USC demonstrated.

There’s a widespread disparity between the top and the bottom teams in the conference. While the Washington schools remain abject embarrassments, USC, Cal and, yes, Oregon State come down the stretch as heavyweights, each tightly holding on to Rose Bowl hopes, none tighter than the Beavers.

Scoreboard:

California 26, Oregon 16
Oregon State 27, Arizona State 25
Stanford 58, Washington State 0
USC 56, Washington 0

Team of the Week: California

The Golden Bears survived the loss of quarterback Kevin Riley, knocked silly when he failed to get down and slide after running the ball. Riley was helped off the field by two trainers. Nate Longshore was an able replacement, hitting on 13 of 27 passes for 136 yards and a score and keeping his team resilient in extra nasty conditions. The defense covered up for four Cal fumbles, stiffening when necessary. Next up is a game with title implications against the USC Trojans in Los Angeles. “As soon as the clock hit zero-zero, I was thinking about USC,” Golden Bears tailback Jahvid Best said.

Disappointment of the Week: Washington

The idea was the Huskies would give a spirited effort in the face of Tyrone Willingham’s firing, effective at the end of the season. They tanked badly instead. They served up touchdowns on USC’s first six possessions. They didn’t tackle anyone, couldn’t cover anyone, generated no detectable offense. They suffered a school-record-tying 10th consecutive loss and remain the nation’s only winless team among 119 in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, with North Texas leaving the Huskies behind and making a breakthrough with a 51-40 upset of Western Kentucky Saturday for an initial victory.

Player of the Week: Sean Canfield, Oregon State, QB

After beating out Lyle Moevao, Canfield was a nine-game starter before a shoulder injury against USC ended his run in 2007. He was slow to recover from offseason surgery, allowing Moevao to keep the starting job by default. The lefthander mostly looked smooth and pinpoint against Arizona State, creating all sorts of questions when Moevao becomes healthy enough to play again.

Freshman of the Week: Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State, RB

The shifty little tailback from Texas ran 30 times for 133 yards, resulting in his fifth 100-yard game of the season. He’s been the Pac-10 rushing leader all season, and if that holds true will be the first freshman to win the league rushing title. “I was just trying to keep my feet moving,” he said of his output against Arizona State.

Cal’s water world

On a miserably wet day in Berkeley, Calif., California relied on its defense to hold off Oregon, remain in contention for a conference championship and feel good going into next weekend’s showdown at USC.

Leading 12-9, Golden Bears linebacker Worrell Williams intercepted a pass and returned it to the Ducks 3 with 34 seconds remaining, setting up an unexpected touchdown. Later, these guys watched as Matt Evensen’s 29-yard field goal to tie the game at 19-19 sailed wide and they sealed the victory when Oregon’s Jairus Byrd fumbled a punt on a fair catch with 10 minutes left to play and Cal’s Marcus Ezeff recovered on the Ducks 6, leading to a clinching touchdown.

Memorial Stadium was under several inches of water in spots, which you might think would favor a team named the Ducks. Not on this day. “If you don’t love being on a field like this, you don’t love playing football,” Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan proclaimed.

A total Washington washout

How low can they go? The Washington schools combined to lose by a ghastly 114-0, marking the first time in 60 years the state rivals had been shut out on the same day. Washington trailed 42-0 at half, Washington State 35-0.

With three games left, the woebegone Cougars have set a league record by serving up 350 points in six conference outings, an average of 58.3 each time out, surpassing the 333 points permitted by California in eight games in 2001. They also were on the receiving end of the most lopsided loss to Stanford in the 59-game series. They’ve been shut out in two consecutive games since their 280-game scoring streak ended. Worst of all, Washington State players have started pointing fingers.

“We have some people on the team who are competitors and they’ll get down about this, and then we’ve got some who just want to quit,” Cougars quarterback Kevin Lopina said in accusatory fashion. “We have some people here and there who aren’t really into it. We just need people who want to win. We have some people who when we lose it’s not really a big deal to them. Right now, I’m embarrassed, just because of how we’re performing.”

Washington likewise has quit on the season, costing Tyrone Willingham his coaching job the week before. The Huskies’ drubbing at USC was the worst in the 78-game series, the most lopsided since a 48-0 loss to the Trojans in 1929. It was the once-storied program’s worst loss overall since a 65-7 rout at Miami in 2001. The end of a horrid season can’t come soon enough in Seattle, or Pullman, Wash.

Gerhart in full gear

In a downpour at Stanford, Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns while running 22 times for 132 yards, sloshing around for his sixth 100-yard outing this season.

“I feel like I weigh 270 pounds each shoe weighs 10 pounds,” the waterlogged Gerhart said, fully understanding his responsibility that comes with inclement weather. “When it rains, you turn to the run.”

Gerhart and his teammates had to applaud their own efforts. A crowd of 26,000-plus was announced, but barely a third of that showed up and sat through this one in the pounding rain, even with the Cardinal now one game away from becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2001.

Six straight and sick of it

By falling at Oregon State, Arizona State (2-6, 1-4 Pac-10) had its losing streak reach a school-record-tying six, matching the Sun Devils’ previous standard for futility set in 1929. The setback also brought Dennis Erickson the longest losing streak of his 20-year collegiate coaching career.

When the Sun Devils went on top 13-7 at Oregon State, it was their first lead in a game in a month and a half, since they held and blew a 20-17 advantage to UNLV on Sept. 13 in Tempe, Ariz.

“Our guys played harder than we have all year against a good football team," Erickson said. "We had a chance to win it. It's getting a little old. You lose another one like this, and it's tough to deal with.”

Short yardage

Stanford fullback Owen Marecic was lost to a severely sprained ankle in the second quarter against Washington State, and his future status is unclear. … The Cougars haven’t scored in 10 quarters. … Arizona State free safety Troy Nolan had a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown, the third runback for a score in his two-year Sun Devils career. He stole passes and scored against Colorado State and Washington last year. … USC tailback Joe McKnight didn’t suit up against Washington, after re-aggravating a toe injury in practice. … Trojans senior safety Kevin Ellison injured a knee in practice, will have surgery that keeps him out two to four weeks and was replaced against the Huskies by junior Will Harris, who had six tackles, two and a half for lost yardage, in his first career start. … Arizona State junior tailback Shaun DeWitty made his second career start against Oregon State, and provided the Sun Devils’ first 100-yard rushing game this season, picking up 110 on 16 carries. DeWitty’s only previous starting assignment came in the 2006 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. … Oregon’s starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli suffered a sprained ankle that forced him to leave Saturday’s game at Cal early and left him in a protective boot after the game, but he doesn’t expect to miss any upcoming game action because of it. … Amid the Stanford meltdown, Washington State freshman quarterback J.T. Levenseller completed a 14-yard pass to junior tight end Tony Thompson, which was noteworthy because Thompson’s dad, Jack, was a Cougars quarterback who used to throw to Levenseller’s dad, Mike. J.T.’s initials are a planned salute to Jack Thompson.

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