Updated at 3:03 p.m., Saturday, November 18, 2006
Oregon State, UH's Dec. 2 foe, gains bowl eligibility
By Janie McCauley
Associated Press
Matt Moore threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 1-yard score to make the Beavers bowl eligible with a 30-7 victory today, spoiling the Cardinal's final shot at winning a game in its fancy renovated stadium.
Yvenson Bernard carried 36 times for 168 yards -- 20 of those rushes for 99 yards in the first half alone -- to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Alexis Serna kicked field goals of 29, 31 and 18 yards for Oregon State (7-4, 5-3 Pac-10), whose loss to Stanford a year ago helped ruin the Beavers' bowl chances and snapped their four-game winning streak in the series.
The Beavers will head into the Civil War game against archrival Oregon on Friday night at Corvallis to play for a possible bid to the Sun Bowl.
After that, Oregon State will travel to play Hawai'i in an ESPN game, starting at 7:05 p.m. Hawai'i time at Aloha Stadium.
Normally, six wins would make a team bowl eligible, but the Beavers have a 13-game schedule. Oregon State upset then-No. 3 Southern California 33-31 on Oct. 28 for one of those victories.
Sammie Stroughter and Brandon Powers each caught touchdown passes from Moore, and Oregon State's blitzing defense made things tough for Stanford quarterback T.C. Ostrander, sacked five times -- all in the second half. Ostrander also was picked off in the end zone by Coye Francies early in the fourth quarter.
Anthony Kimble ran into several blockers before finding an opening to the right and going 36 yards for a touchdown on Stanford's second offensive play, 3:21 into the game, that put the Cardinal on the board first.
But Oregon State tied it 2 1/2 minutes later on Moore's 28-yard TD pass to Stroughter, and Moore hit Powers on a 15-yard strike 11 seconds into the second quarter -- one of six catches by Powers.
Stanford (1-10, 1-7), which shocked Washington last weekend at Husky Stadium in Seattle for its first victory to snap an 11-game skid, was trying to salvage one win in its sparkling new stadium, which underwent a $90 million facelift during the off-season.
Stanford's Richard Sherman caught five passes for 90 yards.
The Cardinal have two weeks before playing rival California in the Big Game in Berkeley to end a most disappointing season under second-year coach Walt Harris, which has raised questions about his job security with new athletic director Bob Bowlsby.
Stanford's infamous band, on probation after getting into trouble with the school for allegedly vandalizing its former practice facility, was allowed on the field for the first time all season. No charges will be filed after an investigation failed to find sufficient evidence. The group has been barred from playing at Notre Dame and Oregon in previous years because of behavior and offensive content in its halftime show.
