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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- With almost cruel quickness, Oregon State
crushed its intrastate rival's Rose Bowl hopes. Then, the Beavers
watched as their own dreams of Pasadena came to an end.
Jonathan Smith threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to
Robert Prescott, and Jake Cookus had three of his team's five
interceptions as No. 8 Oregon State reached 10 victories for the
first time in school history by dominating Oregon (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) 23-13 on
Saturday in the 104th Civil War.
|  | | Oregon State wideout Robert Prescott caught six passes for 111 yards and two first-quarter touchdowns Saturday. |
"I never would have thought that we'd be 10-1," said Oregon
State receiver Chad Johnson. "But a season is like climbing a
mountain, and we only stumbled once on our way up."
That one setback cost the Beavers (10-1, 7-1) their first trip
to the Rose Bowl since the 1964 season. Washington (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP), which beat
Oregon State 33-30 in Seattle on Oct. 7, clinched the berth by
defeating Washington State 51-3 on Saturday night.
Washington (10-1, 7-1) ended up in a three-way tie with Oregon
State and Oregon (9-2, 7-1), and even though the Huskies lost to
Oregon, they won the tiebreaker based on non-conference records.
Washington went 3-0, while the Ducks won two and lost to Wisconsin.
Rose Bowl or not, the Beavers finished their best season ever,
topping their 9-1-1 mark in 1939. It was just last year that they
stopped an NCAA-record streak of 28 straight losing seasons. In his
second season, coach Dennis Erickson might have pulled off the
biggest achievement of his career, taking a woeful program to a
possible berth in a BCS bowl.
"These seniors, they've been through a lot, went through some
agony," Erickson said. "When you go 10-1 at a school that has
never been 10-1, and was at rock-bottom a few years ago, it doesn't
get any better than that."
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Sat, November 18
This was what we thought it would be -- a game decided by big plays. Both Oregon State and Oregon have lived by them all year, and the Ducks died by them today.
Oregon State repeatedly took advantage of the explosion play on first down. The Beavers were able to hit big pass plays early which allowed their defense the freedom to get after Oregon's offense. Joey Harrington never looked comfortable. After Oregon State got out to the early lead, the Ducks' offense seemed to always try to make a big play in a hurry to get back into the game. They seemed desperate, impatient and, consequently, they never got it right.
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Meanwhile, Oregon flopped in the most eagerly awaited Civil War
in 36 years.
"We're shocked right now," cornerback Rashad Bauman said. "We
knew what was at stake. We knew as soon as the clock hit
double-zero that the Rose Bowl hopes were gone."
On a chilly, cloudless day, Joey Harrington couldn't seem to
find his receivers, falling into his habit of overthrowing them and
trying to guide passes into double-coverage.
Harrington, who had been 13-1 as the Ducks' starting
quarterback, completed 24 of 46 passes for 333 yards. He entered
the game with just seven interceptions.
Harrington had led the Ducks back from fourth-quarter deficits
the previous three games, but Oregon State's defense was too
strong. Oregon got to the Beavers' 10 midway through the fourth,
but Harrington was hit from behind by Sefa O'Reilly, and DeLawrence
Grant recovered.
"We score, we cut it to three points," Harrington said
quietly. "We've battled back all year. ... We had a chance to do
what we dreamed to do. We didn't do it."
The Ducks also committed 12 penalties for a season-high 132
yards. Two pass-interference calls against the defense -- both on
third and long -- kept drives going for the Beavers and led to 10
first-half points.
Oregon State's Ken Simonton, the top rusher in the Pac-10 at
136.1 yards per game, gained 113, and his 20-yard touchdown midway
through the third quarter extended the Beavers' lead to 23-7.
Smith completed 14 of 27 passes for 246 yards. Prescott, who
pleaded innocent Thursday to a felony assault charge stemming from
a fight in July, had six receptions for 109 yards.
Cookus, starting his second straight game at free safety for
Calvin Carlyle, who had a sprained left ankle, made an impact
immediately.
Harrington overthrew receiver Keenan Howry, who tipped the ball
into the arms of Cookus. He returned it 31 yards to the Oregon 17.
"I was getting really good reads on the quarterback, and seemed
to know where he was going," Cookus said.
Three plays later, on third-and-8, Prescott got past free safety
Rasuli Webster, and Smith threw over the middle for a 31-yard
touchdown.
The Beavers began their second scoring drive at their own 12,
but kept the ball moving because of a pass-interference penalty on
the Ducks on third-and-10.
Three plays later, Prescott got behind another Oregon defensive
back, Ryan Mitchell, made a difficult catch over his left shoulder
and ran for a 49-yard touchdown.
"We've taken shots down the field all year," said Smith,
wearing a white hat that proclaimed him Pac-10 champion. "I
thought the key to the game was going up 14-0 and forcing them to
play catch-up all game long."
Another pass-interference call against the Ducks, on
third-and-13, kept an Oregon State drive going early in the second
quarter. The Beavers got a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Cesca out of
it and went ahead 17-0, the Ducks' largest deficit of the season.
Oregon held the ball for more than 10 minutes in the second
quarter, but managed just one score. Harrington directed an 81-yard
drive late in the period, highlighted by a 33-yard lob to Marshaun
Tucker down to the Beavers' 6. On the next play, Harrington scored
on a sneak with 7:38 left before halftime.
The Ducks got back into the game when Bauman intercepted a pass
by Smith and returned it to the Beavers' 30. After a 29-yard pass
from Harrington to LaCorey Collins, Maurice Morris jumped across
the goal line to get Oregon to 23-13 with 14:24 to go.
He was stopped on the 2-point conversion run, and Oregon didn't
score again.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Oregon Clubhouse
Oregon State Clubhouse
Oregon falls short in loss to Oregon State
Beavers fall short of Rose Bowl, but fans still celebrate
Tuiasosopo, Huskies roll past Washington State to Pasadena
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Robert Prescott catches the slant from Jonathan Smith and goes 31 yards for the score.
avi: 1298 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Oregon State's Jonathan Smith finds favorite target Robert Prescott for a 49-yard touchdown strike.
avi: 1584 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Oregon QB Joey Harrington tucks the ball and dives for the end zone.
avi: 1407 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Ken Simonton turns the corner and goes 20 yards for the touchdown.
avi: 1497 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Maurice Morris goes over the top of the pile for an Oregon TD.
avi: 985 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Jake Cookus intercepts Oregon's Joey Harrington for the 3rd time in the game.
avi: 1532 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Coach Dennis Erickson feels his players deserve all the credit.
wav: 291 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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