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Missed opportunities haunt Beavers in loss
By Doug Alden, AP Sports Writer
Friday, October 03, 2008 | No comments posted.
SALT LAKE CITY — Oregon State had to watch this celebration instead of reveling in it.
One week after upsetting top-ranked Southern California, the Beavers were stunned in a 31-28 loss to No. 15 Utah on Thursday night.
The Utes scored 11 points in the final 89 seconds, winning on Louie Sakoda’s 37-yard field goal as time expired. Utah fans rushed the field in a scene similar to Oregon State’s celebration a week before. Only this time, the students were wearing red and the Beavers were the ones heading to the locker room in dismay.
“It was definitely a heartbreaker,” said Lyle Moevao, who passed for 313 yards and two touchdowns.
In another game involving a Top 25 team on Thursday, Pittsburgh beat No. 10 South Florida 26-21.
Moevao’s 2-yard pass to Brady Camp gave the Beavers a 28-20 lead with just 2:18 remaining, a lead that seemed like plenty after Utah’s offense sputtered through most of the second half, gaining just 30 yards in the third quarter.
But Utah’s Brian Johnson was nearly perfect in the final 2 minutes as he led Utah (6-0) on a drive to tie it, and then win it and save the Utes’ unbeaten start and chances at a Bowl Championship Series berth.
“When we were down eight, I saw a few people leaving and thought, ‘They’re about to miss a show,’” said Johnson, whose 25-yard touchdown pass to Bradon Godfrey and two-point conversion run tied the game at 28 with 1:29 left to play.
Johnson’s pass on the two-point conversion was incomplete, but Greg Laybourn — whose interception late in the fourth quarter helped the Beavers seal the win over USC — was called for pass interference in the end zone and the Utes got another chance. Johnson dropped back, then outran the Beavers to the right corner to tie it.
“I thought there was no way we were going to lose this game.”
The Beavers (2-3) went three-and-out after Utah tied it and the Utes got the ball back at their own 45-yard line with 1:06 left after a punt. Johnson drove Utah to the 24 to set up Sakoda’s third field goal of the night.
“That was the biggest kick of my career,” Sakoda said. “I stayed calm. I knew it was going to be a chip shot. I had confidence Brian would lead them into my range.”
“You get Louie in that situation, the chances are astronomically in your favor that you’ll come out successful,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 101 yards and a touchdown for the Beavers. He had 186 yards and two touchdowns the week before in Oregon State’s first win over a No. 1 team in 41 years.
Rodgers also had 76 receiving yards, breaking a middle screen for 41 yards late in the fourth quarter on third-and-9, setting up Moevao’s scoring pass to Camp.
The Beavers held Utah to just 30 yards in the third quarter and needed only one more defensive stop to win it. But they couldn’t stop Johnson on the tying drive.
“I thought we had enough at the end, but it turned out we didn’t,” Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. “They just made those plays that we had been covering really well.”
“We really just showed a lot of resiliency and we did a great job of handling adversity,” Whittingham said.
The Beavers’ defense forced three turnovers, including an interception Al Afalava returned 26 yards for a touchdown that gave Oregon State a 9-3 lead on the first play of the second quarter. But the Beavers missed the extra point, which came back to haunt the team when they later failed on two two-point conversions.
Johnson struggled in the third quarter, but recovered late in the fourth and finished 17-of-30 for 201 yards and two touchdowns.
“Hands-down, the biggest win of my career. To be in that situation down eight with a minute and two timeouts the chances of winning, the percentages aren’t in your favor,” Johnson said. “That just goes to show the toughness of this team.”
Utah won despite being outgained 405-337.
“They’re just a great team. I give it all to them,” said Oregon State’s Slade Norris, who had two sacks, two other tackles for a loss and forced Johnson to fumble early in the third quarter.
The Beavers fell behind 20-9 on a 12-yard run by Casteel with 2:31 left in the second quarter, but Moevao led the Beavers right back up the field and completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Shane Morales with 1:13 left before halftime.
Utah got the ball back to start the third quarter, but Johnson fumbled as he was being tackled by Norris and the Beavers recovered at the 34. Rodgers gave Oregon State a 21-20 lead on a 7-yard touchdown with 12:33 left in the third.
It was 3-3 after the first quarter, then the Beavers and Utes went back and forth throughout the second, capitalizing on each other’s mistakes. Some were forced by the defense and some were just blunders.
Johnson opened the second quarter with a pass over the middle that Afalava stepped in front of and ran untouched 26 yards for a touchdown. Oregon State missed the extra point, then muffed the kickoff coverage. David Reed took the return up the middle, then bounced to the Utah sideline going 79 yards to Oregon State’s 15-yard line.
Utah had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Sakoda, then scored again with 7:04 left on a 14-yard pass from Johnson to Freddie Brown. The Beavers almost had Johnson sacked, but he scrambled out of trouble and found Brown standing alone at the back of the end zone for a 13-9 lead.
The win gave the Mountain West Conference a 6-1 record against the Pac-10 this season.
Pittsburgh 26, No. 10 South Florida 21
Pittsburgh extended its winning streak over nationally ranked teams to three as LeSean McCoy ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns while Bill Stull finished 16-of-27 for 228 yards and a touchdown.
The Panthers (4-1, 2-0 Big East) beat No. 23 Cincinnati and No. 2 West Virginia in 2007. They have won two of the last three games with South Florida (5-1, 0-1) in Tampa.
Matt Grothe was 11-of-20 for 129 yards and rushed 11 times for 25 yards, including a 1-yard keeper for a TD in the third quarter, for the Bulls.
Grothe threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jessie Hester in the fourth quarter to give the Bulls a 22-20 lead. Pittsburgh came right back to take the lead, covering 60 yards on three plays in a quick drive that ended with a 3-yard run by McCoy. The 2-point attempt failed.
South Florida’s final chance ended with Grothe throwing a long pass toward the end zone as time expired.
One week after upsetting top-ranked Southern California, the Beavers were stunned in a 31-28 loss to No. 15 Utah on Thursday night.
The Utes scored 11 points in the final 89 seconds, winning on Louie Sakoda’s 37-yard field goal as time expired. Utah fans rushed the field in a scene similar to Oregon State’s celebration a week before. Only this time, the students were wearing red and the Beavers were the ones heading to the locker room in dismay.
“It was definitely a heartbreaker,” said Lyle Moevao, who passed for 313 yards and two touchdowns.
In another game involving a Top 25 team on Thursday, Pittsburgh beat No. 10 South Florida 26-21.
Moevao’s 2-yard pass to Brady Camp gave the Beavers a 28-20 lead with just 2:18 remaining, a lead that seemed like plenty after Utah’s offense sputtered through most of the second half, gaining just 30 yards in the third quarter.
But Utah’s Brian Johnson was nearly perfect in the final 2 minutes as he led Utah (6-0) on a drive to tie it, and then win it and save the Utes’ unbeaten start and chances at a Bowl Championship Series berth.
“When we were down eight, I saw a few people leaving and thought, ‘They’re about to miss a show,’” said Johnson, whose 25-yard touchdown pass to Bradon Godfrey and two-point conversion run tied the game at 28 with 1:29 left to play.
Johnson’s pass on the two-point conversion was incomplete, but Greg Laybourn — whose interception late in the fourth quarter helped the Beavers seal the win over USC — was called for pass interference in the end zone and the Utes got another chance. Johnson dropped back, then outran the Beavers to the right corner to tie it.
“I thought there was no way we were going to lose this game.”
The Beavers (2-3) went three-and-out after Utah tied it and the Utes got the ball back at their own 45-yard line with 1:06 left after a punt. Johnson drove Utah to the 24 to set up Sakoda’s third field goal of the night.
“That was the biggest kick of my career,” Sakoda said. “I stayed calm. I knew it was going to be a chip shot. I had confidence Brian would lead them into my range.”
“You get Louie in that situation, the chances are astronomically in your favor that you’ll come out successful,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 101 yards and a touchdown for the Beavers. He had 186 yards and two touchdowns the week before in Oregon State’s first win over a No. 1 team in 41 years.
Rodgers also had 76 receiving yards, breaking a middle screen for 41 yards late in the fourth quarter on third-and-9, setting up Moevao’s scoring pass to Camp.
The Beavers held Utah to just 30 yards in the third quarter and needed only one more defensive stop to win it. But they couldn’t stop Johnson on the tying drive.
“I thought we had enough at the end, but it turned out we didn’t,” Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. “They just made those plays that we had been covering really well.”
“We really just showed a lot of resiliency and we did a great job of handling adversity,” Whittingham said.
The Beavers’ defense forced three turnovers, including an interception Al Afalava returned 26 yards for a touchdown that gave Oregon State a 9-3 lead on the first play of the second quarter. But the Beavers missed the extra point, which came back to haunt the team when they later failed on two two-point conversions.
Johnson struggled in the third quarter, but recovered late in the fourth and finished 17-of-30 for 201 yards and two touchdowns.
“Hands-down, the biggest win of my career. To be in that situation down eight with a minute and two timeouts the chances of winning, the percentages aren’t in your favor,” Johnson said. “That just goes to show the toughness of this team.”
Utah won despite being outgained 405-337.
“They’re just a great team. I give it all to them,” said Oregon State’s Slade Norris, who had two sacks, two other tackles for a loss and forced Johnson to fumble early in the third quarter.
The Beavers fell behind 20-9 on a 12-yard run by Casteel with 2:31 left in the second quarter, but Moevao led the Beavers right back up the field and completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Shane Morales with 1:13 left before halftime.
Utah got the ball back to start the third quarter, but Johnson fumbled as he was being tackled by Norris and the Beavers recovered at the 34. Rodgers gave Oregon State a 21-20 lead on a 7-yard touchdown with 12:33 left in the third.
It was 3-3 after the first quarter, then the Beavers and Utes went back and forth throughout the second, capitalizing on each other’s mistakes. Some were forced by the defense and some were just blunders.
Johnson opened the second quarter with a pass over the middle that Afalava stepped in front of and ran untouched 26 yards for a touchdown. Oregon State missed the extra point, then muffed the kickoff coverage. David Reed took the return up the middle, then bounced to the Utah sideline going 79 yards to Oregon State’s 15-yard line.
Utah had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Sakoda, then scored again with 7:04 left on a 14-yard pass from Johnson to Freddie Brown. The Beavers almost had Johnson sacked, but he scrambled out of trouble and found Brown standing alone at the back of the end zone for a 13-9 lead.
The win gave the Mountain West Conference a 6-1 record against the Pac-10 this season.
Pittsburgh 26, No. 10 South Florida 21
Pittsburgh extended its winning streak over nationally ranked teams to three as LeSean McCoy ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns while Bill Stull finished 16-of-27 for 228 yards and a touchdown.
The Panthers (4-1, 2-0 Big East) beat No. 23 Cincinnati and No. 2 West Virginia in 2007. They have won two of the last three games with South Florida (5-1, 0-1) in Tampa.
Matt Grothe was 11-of-20 for 129 yards and rushed 11 times for 25 yards, including a 1-yard keeper for a TD in the third quarter, for the Bulls.
Grothe threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jessie Hester in the fourth quarter to give the Bulls a 22-20 lead. Pittsburgh came right back to take the lead, covering 60 yards on three plays in a quick drive that ended with a 3-yard run by McCoy. The 2-point attempt failed.
South Florida’s final chance ended with Grothe throwing a long pass toward the end zone as time expired.
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