BEAVERS PREPARE TO PASS TORCH.

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

CORVALLIS - They came. They saw. They conquered.

And soon, after they make their final appearance for Oregon State a week from today in the Las Vegas Bowl, the OSU football program will have to replace them.

Make no mistake, the Beavers' senior class - augmented by junior tailback Steven Jackson, expected to make himself available for the NFL draft after the season - will be a tough act to follow.

After the bowl game, the Beavers bid farewell to three all-Pac-10 seniors - linebacker Richard Seigler, wide receiver James Newson and tight end Tim Euhus. Also going will be five other players who, as redshirting freshmen in the fall of 1999, helped begin the OSU turnaround - offensive linemen Brian Kilkenny and David Lose, defensive end Dan Rothwell, defensive tackle Dwan Edwards and punter Carl Tobey.

The Beavers also lose Kirk Yliniemi, a place-kicker with Oregon State record-book credentials who walked on in 2000, and several former JC transfers, including defensive backs Lawrence Turner, Brandon Catanese and D.J. Coote, wide receiver Kenny Farley, defensive end Jayson Jean-Baptiste and linebacker Jason Lowe.

The forecast for next season?

"We do have some big shoes to fill," said OSU coach Mike Riley, looking past the Las Vegas Bowl for a moment. "Others are going to have to step up."

That's with just the seniors moving on, but possibly gone, too, is Jackson. He has his senior year ahead of him, but he has a horde of National Football League scouts right behind him. Jackson is a prime-time candidate for playing on Sundays a year sooner than his class will graduate from Oregon State.

Jackson, who played as a true freshman in 2001, won the Pac-10 rushing title in 2002 (with 1,690 yards) and this season (1,396 with a game to go). In nearly three full seasons, he has rushed for 35 touchdowns, caught four scoring passes and returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

"You don't replace him," Riley said. "You don't just replace one of the best running backs in the country. You don't just have a guy come in and be considered the best in the country. Nobody's seen him.

"But we will run the ball well. We have good runners here right now - Dwight Wright, Ryan Cole and Yvenson Bernard."

The Beavers plan to help replace Newson - whose OSU records include 36 straight games with a catch, career receptions (210), career yardage (3,515) and touchdowns (20) - by "looking to junior colleges," Riley said.

Other replacements in the offensive line, defensive line, secondary and kickers/punters "in some cases will come from guys in the program, redshirts or backups."

Seigler is OSU's leading tackler with 87. Newson, Euhus and Jackson are the Beavers' top three receivers, having combined for 159 receptions for 2,192 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Only one true freshman, free safety Dallas Buck, played this season for Oregon State. The remaining scholarship freshmen redshirted, including four defensive linemen/ends, four wide receivers/tight ends, three linebackers, three offensive linemen, three defensive backs, one running back and one quarterback.

Riley, regardless of what happens against New Mexico in the Las Vegas Bowl on Christmas Eve, has secured his first winning season as a college head coach. The Beavers are 7-5 with the Lobos yet to play. With that many starting seniors and the possibility of Jackson being gone next season, Riley is fully aware that expectations for success remain high.

"People don't care who you've lost," he said. "If you won last year, you should win again this year."

Oregon State has not strung three winning seasons together since it had five in a row from 1966 through 1970.

"But that's all right," Riley said. "We don't live under the microscope of others' expectations. They are always there and they are a factor, but that is not the drive for me.

"Our motivation is to get better and to win."

The current OSU seniors helped forge that identity, after signing on with a program that had endured nearly three decades of losing seasons, and they leave a legacy unmatched in school history: four winning seasons and four bowl appearances in five years, including a milestone season in 2000 that included a piece of the Pac-10 Conference championship, a program-best 11-1 record, a No. 4 national ranking and a victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Beavers had not been a postseason team since the 1965 Rose Bowl until the '99 team played in the Oahu Bowl.

In all, this senior class - plus Jackson for the past three seasons - has banked 38 wins for the Beavers. Oregon State had a total of 38 wins in the 14 seasons prior to 1999.

"In the nearly 40 years, since the mid-Dee Andros years, nobody has had the record of this senior class," Riley said. "That group has had a tremendous impact on the program.

"They've won games, gone to bowls, been successful and competitive, and now Oregon State fits in. It is not at the bottom looking up in the Pac-10 anymore.

"When teams play Oregon State now, they know they are going to be in a game. The Oregon State game is no longer earmarked early in a year as a win for somebody."

Next season, it will be up to a new nucleus of Beavers to continue that.

CAPTION(S):

Oregon State running back Steven Jackson is only a junior, but he is expected to turn pro after three strong seasons in Corvallis. OSU will definitely lose all-Pac-10 players Richard Seigler, James Newson and Tim Euhus.