Beavers clear last obstacle with ease.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

PULLMAN, Wash. - Oregon State wasn't about to trip up here.

Stumble, maybe, as the Beavers did in the second quarter when Washington State closed within 21-10. But falter and fall when OSU's chance to play for a berth in the Rose Bowl was at stake?

No, that wasn't going to happen and OSU made sure of it in the second half, pulling away for a 42-10 victory over the Cougars before an announced crowd of 16,167 in Martin Stadium that braved frigid temperatures and a steady breeze.

It sets up the 20th-ranked Beavers (8-3 overall, 6-2 in the Pac-10) to play Oregon (also 6-2 in the conference) on Dec. 3 at Autzen Stadium with their Rose Bowl hopes still intact, and what more could OSU have wanted out of this game than that?

"Amazing," OSU coach Mike Riley said. "I'm really proud of how these guys have battled back to this point. Whatever happens with (the title race), we'll still have one of the great matchups for the Civil War ever. Pretty exciting stuff."

At 2-2 when September ended, and coming off a home loss in their league opener, the Beavers looked anything like contenders for the school's first Rose Bowl berth in 45 years. Yet, here they are as November ends, playing for the possibility of being in Pasadena on Jan. 1.

That's how it was a year ago, and those dreams crumbled in a 65-38 loss to Oregon. Playing at home on Dec. 3, the Ducks should be decided favorites in this 113th Civil War.

"We're just going to come underneath them, and no one is going to really expect us (to win). We're stealthy," OSU senior linebacker Keaton Kristick said.

There's certainly some of that surprise associated with this season's bid by OSU for the league title. They suddenly sprang into the conversation after USC faltered and Stanford upset Oregon and the Beavers beat California on the road a and didn't it all seem to come together?

The Beavers have had another strong stretch after that slow start by winning six of their last seven games, and as Kristick noted, that makes it "similar to (the 2008 season) but no one jumped on the bandwagon, which is kind of neat. We had our own group of guys who stuck to this belief."

That fortitude came to bear on the Cougars (1-10, 0-8) in the second half when the Beavers put up 298 yards and scored their final three touchdowns while holding WSU to 87 yards of offense and three first downs. It was the dominance that might have been expected, except for a second quarter in which the Cougars played the Beavers even.

The final numbers were decidedly in OSU's favor. The Beavers had 567 yards of total offense, including 231 from Sean Canfield, who completed 22-of-29 passes, including touchdown throws to Damola Adeniji and Joe Halahuni. Of OSU's season-high rushing total of 283 yards, Quizz Rodgers accounted for 165 on 24 carries, two of those rushes ending in the end zone.

The Beavers began the game intent on ending any doubt immediately. OSU scored on its first three drives to take a 21-3 lead as Canfield completed 13-of-14 passes for 139 yards and his two touchdowns.

OSU was headed for another score on its fourth possession as it set up for a first down at the WSU 26-yard line, but Canfield was short of his intended receiver, and WSU defensive back Xavier Hicks was in perfect position for the interception.

That turnover seemed to stall OSU's momentum, and when the next possession for the Beavers ended with a punt, the Cougars responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive to pull within 21-10 with 10 seconds left in the first half.

"We felt like we were in the game, and we were," WSU quarterback Kevin Lopina said. "One play here or there, and it could have been a different game."

Lopina gave it a valiant effort, running and passing his way to 155 of WSU's yardage total of 192. But would the Cougars have even gotten that one touchdown had it not been for 45 yards of penalties on the Beavers on that one drive?

That included pass interference on one play and unnecessary roughness on another that cost 15 yards each, plus 10 yards for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Lopina that made it first and goal at the 9-yard line. And that was followed by the Beavers being offside, to make it first-and-goal at the 4, and the Cougars scored on fourth down from the 1.

Time to panic? Time for some screaming or emotional rants at halftime?

"I didn't get upset because I didn't think that would do any good," Riley said. "I thought (WSU) made some plays and we had some poor choices.

"I thought the main thing for our guys was to do what we say every time at halftime, go out and play like it's zero to zero. Go out there and not be tight."

The Beavers didn't score on their first drive of the second half, then did on the next three possessions, the last one with reserves at the skill positions.

"We started out real good, and then got to a dry area and got to halftime and knew we were beating ourselves," OSU's James Rodgers said. "We didn't really make adjustments (in the second half), we just came out and executed better."

Which takes the Beavers down to one game with everything on the line for them.

"I'm positive that we're going to prep for this game harder than we've prepped for any game this year," Kristick said. "You can kind of tell a lot of guys are not nonchalant, but we've got confidence in ourselves."