OSU able to slay the Pac-10 giant

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

CORVALLIS — Alan Darlin didn’t attend the Oregon State football team’s chapel before Saturday’s game, but if the linebacker had he would have heard the story of David and Goliath.

OSU’s chaplain Tom Ramsay used the classic story of how a little boy slew the giant with a pebble. It was an easy comparison with Southern California coming to town.

The Trojans have won two national titles in three years, were ranked third in the country headed into the Pacific-10 Conference game at Reser Stadium and undefeated with a bye week to prepare. They faced the Beavers, who were not even in the national consciousness and 12-point underdogs.

However, Darlin took notice of the parable when receiver Sammie Stroughter took out a bag full of pebbles and gave one to every player on the team. Darlin tucked his into his pants during the game for good luck.

“We have some kids who are pretty thoughtful,” coach Mike Riley said. “Whatever a guy draws on, we got kids who are pretty deep.”

Call it divine intervention or the perfect set of circumstances, but the Beavers defeated USC 33-31 before a crowd of 42,871 when defensive end Jeff Van Orsow tipped a pass on a two-point conversion in the final seconds.

That brought out the student section for an on-field celebration with the team for one of the greatest victories in school history. The Beavers (5-3, 3-2) have not knocked off a team this highly ranked since 1967 when the Giant Killers toppled top-ranked USC 3-0.

“This is what you play for,” safety Sabby Piscitelli said. “That’s what everyone plays the game for. You ask for big players to step up and make plays. We made a lot of great plays. It was just intense.”

USC owns this series 57-9-4. The last OSU win was in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl year. And there were 26 straight losses after the 1967 game.

Beyond bringing the Beavers closer to the needed seven wins to reach a bowl game, the season has officially been turned around.

They have won three in a row, conquered the road and burst the chances for a national title for the Trojans (6-1, 4-1).

“This is a great day for Oregon State’s football team,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “My hat is off to Mike (Riley) and I thought they did a great job. They played great the whole day and they did a bunch of stuff that we wish we could have done. I think it’s a great win for them and a very difficult loss for us because we made it.”

The Beavers have played three straight complete games, and more importantly finished off a close contest against a good program.

Several games have been played close against those type of opponents in recent years, but they’ve let them slip away. Prime examples are Louisiana State and USC in 2004.

“It feels real great to finish a game like this,” Piscitelli said. “We were in a similar situation a couple years ago, and that left a bad taste. I feel it was really big for us to finish. A lot of USC’s games this season came down to the end, and we knew it. Our coaches did a great job of preparing us for this. They told us not to be surprised if we were ahead at the end with USC with the ball.”

Late in the third quarter the Beavers were up 33-10 and playing well, but there was a feeling that USC’s comeback was still coming. Missed early scoring opportunities usually come back to haunt OSU.

The Trojans rallied, but it wasn’t enough. Early on, OSU’s offense piled up the points and tried to go for the kill. When that didn’t work, the defense held off the charge.

“We expected that from a team like SC,” Piscitelli said. “We knew they weren’t going to lay down. They are SC for a reason. They got great athletes and we know that. We had to play all four quarters. As a defense we didn’t break stride. We gave up a few mental plays, but that’s going to happen in a game like that. It was good for us to bounce back and not blink.”

The bottom line is the win in this situation, and it was the breakthrough performance the program needed. Not for the season, but to draw on in the coming years.

The Beavers are now talking about momentum and the possibility of a big season. They’ve climbed into a tie for fourth place in the Pac-10.

“We are just on a high right now,” Stroughter said. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity and it’s a great burden off our shoulders. And now we can never be satisfied.”

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