Beat-up Beavers use time to heal.

Byline: BOB RODMAN The Register-Guard

CORVALLIS - They have lost three straight football games. They have failed to score an offensive touchdown in two of those contests. They have had two starting offensive tackles and a starting free safety sidelined by injuries.

The Beavers have been beaten and beaten up. They needed a break.

"The bye was good for us, good for all of us," Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson said Monday.

The Beavers, who play a revived California program - 5-3 thus far this fall after a 1-10 season in 2001 - on Saturday at Reser Stadium in a Pac-10 Conference game scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff, took a week off, if you can call it that.

"It was good for the whole team to sit back, reflect on where we are and heal some," said Erickson, whose Beavers began the season 4-0 before starting the Pac-10 season with consecutive losses to USC, UCLA and Arizona State.

"We didn't have to worry about stopping any momentum."

Oregon State has not lost four straight games in a single season since 1998. Erickson-coached college teams have not lost four in a row since his first Washington State outfit in 1987.

"It's a little bit of a shock," Erickson said. "I thought we'd be playing a lot better. I'm a little disappointed ... and a little surprised."

Injuries to starting left tackles Brian Kilkenny (broken left leg) and Lee Davis (right knee) raised havoc with the offensive line, including the shifting of starting left guard Mike Kuykendall to left tackle.

It's not hard to understand why OSU sophomore quarterback Derek Anderson - learning on the run - was sacked 15 times in those three losses.

In the first four games of the season, the Beavers were averaging nearly 500 yards and 48 points a game. In the last three, they are managing just 233 yards and less than 15 points a game.

Anderson was among those receiving some special attention with the week between games.

"He worked hard," Erickson said. "It's been a development thing for Derek." In other words, Anderson is deep into his education at the School of Hard Knocks.

"I just have to learn that everything isn't going to be positive all the time," said Anderson, who has completed 50 percent of his passes (117-of-234) for 1,765 yards and 17 touchdowns, and been intercepted six times. "It's tough but you just have to learn from it."

During the bye week, Oregon State stuck to its game plan.

"We worked on what we are trying to execute, offensively and defensively," Erickson said. "The worst thing you can do is panic and start changing things."

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT YARDS: California is last in total offense and total defense in the Pac-10 but has five wins, one more than it had in the two previous seasons.

"Those are yards," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "What you look at is scoring." The Bears were first in the Pac-10 in that category for a time, and now they are third with an average of 36 points a game.

"But the big statistic is turnover ratio," he said, alluding to Cal's turnover margin of 2.0 a game (plus-16 total) that leads the nation (with Virginia Tech). "If the defense gets you the ball with a short field, you won't have a lot of big numbers.

"We haven't had to go far to score," said Tedford, whose Bears have the best red-zone offense in the Pac-10 (scoring on 30-of-31 chances inside opponents' 20-yard lines).

NO LIVE TV: Saturday's game against Cal will not be televised live, but a taped replay on Fox Sports Net Northwest is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

INJURY UPDATE: Kilkenny is listed as probable for the Cal game, but the 6-foot-5, 285-pound junior's situation is referred to by Erickson as "day-to-day.

"He practiced (Sunday) at about half-speed, and if he can practice all this week, he would start," Erickson said

Of Davis, a 6-4, 303-pound senior, Erickson said, "I'm not sure we'll have him back at all this season."

Mitch Meeuwsen, a 6-3, 204-pound sophomore free safety who sustained a knee injury in the loss to UCLA, "will be lucky to be back for the Arizona game (on Nov. 2)," Erickson said.

FLAGS WERE FLYING: Despite not playing last week, OSU remained the most penalized team in the Pac-10 with 66 costing 713 yards (101.9 a game).

But Cal, averaging 73.9 yards in penalties a game, tied a Pac-10 record with 195 yards in penalties during its 17-12 win over UCLA last Saturday at Berkeley.

ALSO: OSU senior outside linebacker Nick Barnett continues to lead the Pac-10 in tackles (9.7 a game). ... Steven Jackson, OSU's sophomore tailback, ranks second in the Pac-10 in rushing (109.3 yards a game). ... Cal's Kyle Boller leads the Pac-10 in touchdown passes (19). ... The Bears need two more victories to clinch their first winning season since 1993.