OSU strikes fast to cage Washington State

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CORVALLIS — It didn't take long for the Oregon State offense to strike in its 66-13 win over Washington State on Saturday at Reser Stadium. The Beavers forced WSU to punt on its first possession, which Sammie Stroughter returned 29 yards to the OSU 46-yard line. After a 24-yard reverse run by James Rodgers, Beavers quarterback Lyle Moevao rolled out and found Stroughter for a 30-yard touchdown.

But the offense didn't stop there. On its second possession of the game, it went 60 yards in five plays, taking only 1:53 to score. Jacquizz Rodgers highlighted the drive with two long runs, including a 28-yarder. Moevao capped the drive with another scoring strike, this time finding Shane Morales in the end zone from 20 yards out.

By the end of the first quarter, the Beavers held a 21-0 advantage, thanks to a Jacquizz Rodgers 3-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds remaining. Rodgers finished the quarter with 79 rushing yards, while Stroughter had three catches for 85 yards.

"Coming in, we knew they were going to try to stop the run," Jacquizz Rodgers said. "They weren't really playing the pass that well, so I just stepped into the cutback lane and it was open."

The only lowlight of the quarter for OSU was a Moevao pass from the WSU 13 that was intercepted in the end zone by Xavier Hicks Jr. for a touchback. Moevao was 5-of-6 passing for a 108 yards.

The Beavers racked up 211 total yards in the first on offense, while holding WSU to just 14 yards.

"Overall, I think we did pretty good if you look at the statistics," senior defensive end Slade Norris said. "It was a good game, but there are always things you could have done better and those are things we need to work on before we play Washington."

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TURNOVER STREAK SNAPPED: Moevao had gone three straight games without throwing an interception for the Beavers. That, however, changed against the Cougars. He threw four in the first half alone. His third one, at his own 23-yard line, was returned for a touchdown by Louis Bland that brought WSU within eight points after the extra point with 4:28 remaining in the half.

"We broke down a few times in the second quarter," Moevao said. "I obviously made a few mistakes, some that were pretty costly and turned into points. There's some stuff I would like to take back, but I am glad things turned out the way they did."

Moevao had thrown four interceptions total in his previous five games for a 10-to-4 TD-to-INT ratio. The Beavers were fortunate that two plays after Moevao's fourth interception, defensive end Victor Butler forced WSU running back Chantz Staden to fumble the ball, which was recovered by Greg Laybourn at the Cougars' 34.

That set up a 28-yard field goal by Justin Kahut seven plays later as time expired in the first half to give the Beavers a 24-13 lead and halt the momentum shift for WSU. Hicks had two of the Cougars' four interceptions in the first half.

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KICKIN' BACK: Embattled kicker Justin Kahut made huge strides against WSU. After missing an extra point and a field goal in the Beavers' 31-28 loss to No. 15 Utah last Thursday, Kahut was good on all seven of his extra-point tries, in addition to the 28-yard field goal he converted at the end of the first half.

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MR. RODGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD: Jacquizz Rodgers eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark for the fifth consecutive game, carrying the ball 23 times for 168 yards. The freshman fell 18 yards shy of tying his career-high of 186 that he set against USC two weeks ago. He was taken out of the game midway through the third quarter due to the Beavers' large lead.

"We started off really well with the running game," Rodgers said. "I found a couple of holes and was able to get to the secondary. They started to stop it in the second half, but that opened up the passing game."

His brother, sophomore James Rodgers, was OSU's second-leading rusher with 57 yards. His 17-yard touchdown run at the 7:57 mark in the third quarter gave the Beavers a 38-13 lead. Backup running backs Ryan McCants and Jeremy Francis also scored for OSU on Saturday. McCants finished with 51 yards and Francis 46.

"It was fun to see those three guys run tonight," Riley said. "I think it gives us a good idea of the depth we have at this position for awhile, because two of them are freshmen and one of them (Francis) has another year left after this."

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CANFIELD RETURNS: Sean Canfield made his first appearance of the season after the Beavers recovered a WSU fumble at the Cougars' 23-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Canfield, who hadn't played since the Emerald Bowl last season due to shoulder issues, handed the ball off three straight times to Francis, who eventually scored from 3 yards out.

Canfield ended up attempting two passes and made his only completion count. He launched a 39-yard touchdown pass that receiver Damola Adeniji pulled down in the end zone with 7:35 remaining in the game.

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ANOTHER MILESTONE: The 66 points the Beavers scored on Saturday broke a team record for most points against a Pac-10 opponent. The previous record was 55 against UCLA in 1999.

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