Analysis

By Cliff Kirkpatrick

Corvallis Gazette-Times

CORVALLIS - Flirting with the Rose Bowl and coming so close to that dream date on New Year's Day made rejection more painful.

A victory in the Civil War on Saturday night would have given the Oregon State football team at least a share of the Pacific-10 Conference title and its first Rose Bowl invitation in 44 years.

Instead, the Beavers were routed by in-state rival Oregon 65-38 before a crowd of 46,319 in Reser Stadium.

That snapped a six-game winning streak and most likely sent them to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

"We're disappointed with losing - we hate it," coach Mike Riley said. "Then the rivalry game with the Ducks is hard. We've been in a playoff mode for six weeks and tonight the bubble burst."

Excitement around the Beavers (8-4, 7-2) started after upsetting then No. 1-ranked Southern California on Sept. 25. And it grew after each of the wins down the stretch.

Players kept their focus as the pressure mounted. They pulled out improbable wins and a string of tight games.

"This hurt, it definitely hurts," quarterback Lyle Moevao said. "Coming this whole way playing through the games we've been through and being on a long stretch like this and not being able to top it off, it definitely hurts."

The Beavers were ready for the Ducks (9-3, 7-2) with a game plan, but just didn't have anything left.

After initial success containing Oregon, big plays wore them down and the Beavers could never get close.

"We knew what was on the line," safety Greg Laybourn said. "We didn't look past this game. To come so far and play the way we did tonight was disappointing. We had the pressure on us for weeks now, and we're used to it. We loved it. They just outplayed us."

The Beavers still have a slim hope to reach the Rose Bowl. They need UCLA to do the improbable and upset USC on Saturday.

That would create a three-way tie atop the conference standings with Oregon, OSU and USC. All tiebreakers go to the Beavers, the Pac-10 has already announced.

"I'm not going to lose any sleep over that one," Riley said. "It was a great run to get to this point, and we didn't do it. It's bitterly disappointing. We were on the brink and we didn't do it."

If USC wins that game as expected it would send the Trojans to the Rose Bowl. The Holiday Bowl then gets the runner-up of the conference, and that's the Ducks.

That leaves the Beavers for a Sun Bowl, which has the third pick of Pac-10 teams. Bowl officials previously said they were interested in the Beavers after their good showing in the 2006 game.

"It's definitely hard to get excited about that one when you knew what was possible," Moevao said. "But that can change."

Sun Bowl officials must wait to see how that UCLA-USC shakes out before inviting the Beavers on Dec. 7. They have a pick so that game is not assured.

If the Beavers are not taken there, it's down to the Las Vegas Bowl.

"We wanted this championship real bad," defensive end Slade Norris said. "The city of Corvallis has been behind us the whole way. I'm thankful for that. I feel awful we couldn't win it. I ask the fans to not give up on us. We'll give them a good game no matter what bowl game we go to."

For now, the Beavers can take a deep breath and recover from what they've been through this season. Riley believes this time away to mentally rest will be good for the players.

They will have a week off, and once they find out where they are headed next they'll get ready for that last game.

"The best thing to do is getting the team feeling good, and that will take some time," Riley said. "These guys like to play, so they'll come back. We don't want our seniors to go out on a loss."

Cliff Kirkpatrick covers the Oregon State football team for the Corvallis Gazette-Times. He can be reached at cliff.kirkpatrick@lee.net.