By Kevin Hampton
Corvallis Gazette-Times | Posted: Sunday, November 16, 2008 12:00 am
CORVALLIS - Lyle Moevao was sick on Saturday. His shoulder, however, was just fine.
Moevao wasn't razor sharp during Oregon State's 34-21 win over California in front of 45,969 fans at Reser Stadium.
But he played well enough to lead the Beavers to a crucial win, keeping them in the running for the Rose Bowl with two games left.
He completed 14 of 28 passes for 145 yards with one interception. He did not throw a touchdown pass, but it was his ability to manage the game that made the difference against Cal.
His voice was raspy, but he was feeling no pain in his shoulder when he threw the ball and got hit.
"Really, Lyle's health was evident (Friday)," OSU coach Mike Riley said. "He threw the ball really well and if there was anything (Saturday), and I thought about it after the game, he's sick. So I guess he wasn't at his top. I thought he made a lot of good throws on third down, I thought he made some plays and I tell you what, Cal's pass defense, for what they gave us, is as good as it gets."
Moevao was hurt two weeks ago against Arizona State and missed OSU's win over UCLA in Los Angeles as Sean Canfield stepped in last week.
This week Moevao's shoulder was ready for action.
"No tweaks at all, no pain at all during the whole game," Moevao said. "I think it was just the adrenaline that was getting me out there and being able to go through all my throws without any pain."
Even so, it's not easy to step right back into a starting role as a quarterback. Moevao said it took a little time to get back into the swing of the game.
He was 3-for-5 for 18 yards and an interception in the first quarter.
"It was a little tough coming out, it was a little rust in there," Moevao said. "But I think the receivers did a good job of being able to run their routes and getting open. It made my job a lot easier."
That interception looked at the time to be the product of a shaky shoulder. Moevao had James Rodgers breaking open but his throw seemed slightly short and was picked off by Cal cornerback Syd'Quan Thompson.
Moevao took the blame for the interception because of a bad read and throw.
"James ran a great route and I sailed it a little bit too much to the middle of the field," Moevao said. "The defensive back did a great job of taking advantage of that."
Riley wasn't so quick to lay blame.
"It was an unusual read," Riley said. "I thought he made a good read and we were running a play we run a lot. A big angle across by Sammie and a post by James and James probably could have stayed a little thinner, but Thompson came off the backside corner and made that play. We run that play a lot and I have to say I've never seen that play made by the backside corner. He came off of his receiver and went high. It was well done by him."
The play could have sent Moevao into a downward spiral. He could have panicked and pressed and made a worse mistake.
Instead, he held together and led the Beavers, particularly through critical moments of the game.
He never got the hot hand, but he did keep a few drives moving with big throws on third down.
He also had the help of the OSU offensive unit in the run game. The Beavers kept grinding away with Jacquizz Rodgers and all but put the game away on their final drive, nearly eating up the final 6:53 of the game.
"It was definitely important," Moevao said. "That's the main thing for these types of games, close games, is it comes down to ball possession and stuff like that at the very end. I think being smart with the ball is definitely something you want to do at the very end in close games like this. The last thing you want to do is turn the ball over or give the ball back with too much time on the clock, so I think we did that well as an offense."