Oregon State's defense bent but didn't break at the end, as the Beavers held on to beat the 2nd ranked California Golden Bears 31-28 in Berkeley Saturday night.
The Beavers grabbed the lead early, as Andy Stewart rushed up the middle for a 1 yard touchdown run, grabbing a 7-0 lead after Alexis Serna's PAT. That lead lasted into the second quarter, when Cal's Freshman Quarterback Kevin Riley(from Beaverton, Oregon), making his first career start, hit Lavelle Hawkins with a 12 yard touchdown pass. Jordan Kay's PAT tied the game 7-7. Serna got the lead back for Oregon State with a 21 yard field goal to make it 10-7, then kicked a 52 yarder to bring the Beavers to within a point at halftime 14-13, after the Bears took the lead for the first time on Riley's 3 yard run and Kay PAT.
Yvenson Bernard's 1 yard run and Serna's PAT gave Oregon State a 20-14 lead through three quarters. In the fourth, the lead changed hands twice. Cal went on top 21-20, thanks to Justin Forsett's 7 yard scoring run and Kay's PAT. Bernard's second 1 yard scoring run, this one on a plunge over the top with 8:30 left, put the Beavers up 26-21. Oregon State made it a 7 point lead as Sean Canfield passed to Anthony Brown for the two-point conversion, putting the visitors from Corvallis up 28 - 21. Serna's third field goal of the night, this one from 33 yards out, gave the Beavers a 31 - 21 lead late in the 4th quarter. The Golden Bears, who had a chance to grab the #1 spot in the polls for the first time in 56 years as #1 LSU lost at #17 Kentucky 43-37 in 3 overtimes, responded with a pass from Riley to Hawkins down the middle for 65 yards and a touchdown. Kay's PAT brought California within 3 at 31-28. The Bears got one more crack at the endzone, after a Serna punt gave California the ball at their own 5 with less than 2 minutes to play. Riley led his team into position to either tie or take the lead at the end, but then tried to scramble to the endzone from the OSU 12. He was tackled inbounds, with no time outs left and not enough time to get the field goal unit on the field and the Beavers held on for the 31-28 win. California Coach Jeff Tedford said "It's not his fault whatsoever. He played his heart out down the stretch to get us in that situation. We didn't lose the game because of that play." The Beavers' Joey LaRoque, who made the tackle on the final play said "That was a great finish to a great game. Cal has a great team and it was awesome. That game is all about college football right there. I'm glad to be a part of this. It was amazing."
Yvenson Bernard led Oregon State with 110 yards and 2 touchdowns on 32 carries. Lavelle Hawkins caught 9 passes for 197 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Bears.
California is the tenth Top-10 ranked team to lose to an unranked team this season. For the Beavers, it's the first time they've beaten a team ranked this high, since beating the O.J. Simpson-led USC Trojans 3-0 on November 11th, 1967. The third ranked Ohio State Buckeyes look to move into the top spot after their 48-3 victory over Kent State. After their bye week, Oregon State hosts Stanford on Saturday, October 27th. The Bears play at UCLA next Saturday.
In other Top-10 action, #4 Boston College beat Notre Dame 27-14.,#5 South Florida rolled past Central Florida 64-12, #6 Oklahoma beat #11 Missouri 41-31, it was #7 South Carolina beating North Carolina 21-15, #9 Oregon pounded Washington State 53-7 and #10 USC beat Arizona 20-13.
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