Cliff Kirkpatrick Corvallis Gazette-Times | Posted: Saturday, November 22, 2008 10:00 pm
TUCSON, Ariz. - Backups came to the forefront Saturday night for the Oregon State football team.
Starting quarterback Lyle Moevao couldn't play due to his injured throwing shoulder suffered Nov. 1 against Arizona State.
Then starting tailback Jacquizz Rodgers went down with a sprained AC joint of his left shoulder in the first quarter against Arizona, and couldn't return.
None of that mattered as the Beavers still defeated the Wildcats 19-17 with Sean Canfield behind center, and Ryan McCants and Jeremy Francis sharing the load as ball carriers.
"Ryan McCants competed like crazy and moved the pile sometimes, and would not be denied," coach Mike Riley said. "Jeremy went in and performed. In the long-run, it's helpful for our team. In the short-run, to compensate for a player like Quizz or the starting quarterback not being in there. That's a great sign for us."
The loss of Rodgers hurt OSU's ability to sustain drives and to bang out the hard yards. He averaged a Pacific-10 Conference-leading 123 yards a contest entering the game, and had 20 yards on four carries before calling it a night.
McCants carried the ball 15 times for 52 yards. Francis had a 2-yard run, but was more of a receiver, catching a team-high seven passes for 61 yards.
"Jeremy and Ryan did awesome," Canfield said. "They are all different players. Jeremy caught some screens and Ryan jammed the hole to get some extra yards. They stepped up. Those two can be starting, but Quizz is Quizz."
Wide receiver James Rodgers was used more in the running game as the team went back to the fly sweep that he popularized last season. He gained 102 yards on 10 carries.
Canfield played a steady game throughout. There were a few bad passes early that he was lucky a defender didn't intercept.
Then he turned it on late for what was thought to be a game-tying touchdown pass to Sammie Stroughter before Justin Kahut missed an extra point.
Then Canfield took the Beavers from their 20-yard line to the Arizona 7 to set up the game-winning field goal.
"We run the two-minute drill everyday in practice, so it was a routine thing for us," Canfield said. "Everybody stayed poised. We didn't stop fighting to the end. When Justin missed that PAT, we didn't blink. We got back and he did his thing to win the game for us."
Canfield is 2-0 as a starter this season. He completed 20 of 32 for 224 yards and a touchdown.
"To be honest, we thought Lyle was going to start," defensive end Victor Butler said. "We were surprised to see Sean in there, but but we didn't care. Both have good leadership qualities. I'm proud to have any one of them in there."
Canfield didn't find out he was going to start until moments before the game. Riley wanted to see how Moevao warmed up before making the decision.
His warmup looked positive, but Riley decided he didn't want to go with someone who missed nearly all of practice during the week.
"It was a little bit of a slow start for us," Canfield said. "But they are a good defense. We didn't do anything major in the second half. We just ran our stuff and kept at it."