Another Big East headache Beavers stumble with seven turnovers in lackluster road performance.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

CINCINNATI - The Big East was again a little too much for Oregon State.

No, make that a lot.

With the Beavers turning the football over seven times to directly set up 24 Cincinnati points - and OSU also had a punt blocked for a touchdown - the Bearcats romped to a 34-3 victory Thursday night before 25,020 in Nippert Stadium and a national television audience.

Not that many of either set of viewers were around to watch the finish. Or needed to be.

"We got thoroughly beaten," OSU coach Mike Riley said, summing it up quickly. "We've just got to work to get better. It's a whole team thing."

It was the fewest points scored by OSU (1-1) since they suffered a 22-0 loss to USC in 2002. It makes the Beavers 0-2 in the past three seasons on trips to play Big East teams, by a 97-30 margin with this added to that 63-27 debacle at Louisville in 2005.

"So we don't go undefeated. All right, fine," OSU defensive end Jeff Van Orsow said. "You've got to just learn from it, there's nothing else you can do.

"We'll go back (home), start from scratch and look forward to one game at a time."

Not even the expected emotional lift from the return of receiver Sammie Stroughter could help the Beavers. Stroughter, in fact, contributed one of the turnovers with a fumble of a punt, recovered by the Bearcats at the OSU 2-yard line.

This one offered several areas of concern for Oregon State, and not any of them are likely to be repaired to anyone's assurance even in a likely rout of Idaho State on Sept. 15.

The six interceptions thrown by the two quarterbacks was only three fewer than OSU's total last season, in 14 games.

"You can't make those mistakes and expect to win a game," said Canfield, who didn't protest his benching. "It was fine ... we were down so much."

In fact, did the Beavers stick with Canfield too long?

Riley said he "thought about it a couple times" earlier before inserting Lyle Moevao on the final play of the third quarter, with all the scoring completed.

Canfield threw three interceptions in completing 18-of-31 passes, for 131 yards. Not that Moevao made a case he should have been in sooner, with his first two possessions both ending in interceptions, as well as his last pass falling into the hands of a Bearcat. He finished 14-of-23 for 143 yards.

`It's just something we've got to get better at. And all of us have to help `em,' Riley said of his quarterbacks.

The OSU offensive line, minus injured guard Jeremy Perry, had a tough time matching up with Cincinnati's aggressive and physical front four. Yvenson Bernard was limited to 30 rushing yards in 16 carries, and the Beavers netted 36 yards on the ground.

Ugh.

"They played their tails off, we didn't," OSU guard Roy Schuening said. "We just weren't ready to play.

"They were a little faster than we thought and it took some adjusting to them."

The only positive was the play of the defense, until it wore down in the second half from being on the field too much, and usually in tough situations. Cincinnati finished with 229 yards of total offense, and 50 of that total came on the final touchdown play by the Bearcats.

Cincinnati's first three scoring drives, to a field goal and two touchdowns, covered a total of 32 yards and lasted all of eight plays.

The Bearcats started those drives at the OSU 21, 31 and 2 yard lines, difficult spots for a defense to come on the field.

"Yeah, but that's our job," Van Orsow protested. "We're supposed to defend our goal line so we need to tighten that up."

Cincinnati did score without the benefit of an OSU turnover, driving 17 yards before Jake Rogers kicked the second-longest field goal in Bearcats history, a 55-yarder that made it 20-3.

Not that the Beavers were done with mistakes.

After their third consecutive three-and-out drive of the second half, Alexis Serna's punt was blocked and recovered in the end zone and the Bearcats were up 27-3 with 2:13 left in the third quarter.

The Beavers finally got their initial first down of the second half, on consecutive completions by Canfield of 5, 4 and 3 yards before he was intercepted again, if it did take a replay reversal to give the Bearcats the football.

In two plays, the lead was 34-3 on a 50-yard pass from Ben Mauk to reserve running back Greg Moore, and the Bearcats were the ones heading into the night with a 2-0 start to the season.

"Every time you get a win of this nature, it's important to the program," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "We're not a top 25 team, but winning this challenge is a first step."