Cougars hang on to beat Beavers

Associated Press

PULLMAN – Washington State running back David Minnich looked up at the scoreboard and saw an unfamiliar statistic on Saturday: the Cougars had more yards rushing than passing in beating Oregon State.

“That’s the first time that’s happened since I’ve been here,” Minnich said after rushing for a career-high 195 yards in Washington State’s 34-27 victory.

Actually, the Cougars rushed for two more yards than they passed against Utah last year. But that couldn’t compare to the 243-137 rushing to passing differential on Saturday.

Washington State (5-0, 3-0 Pac-10) won five games for the first time since opening 7-0 in the Rose Bowl season of 1997. The victory sets up a showdown of unbeaten teams next Saturday at No. 22 Stanford.

Washington State players are thinking of bowl games and a possible Top 25 ranking.

“We deserve it (the ranking), but we can’t really worry about it,” said safety Billy Newman, who recovered an Oregon State on-side kick at the end of the game to preserve the win.

Washington State jumped out to a 31-0 lead in the first half before its offense sputtered. The Beavers (1-3, 0-2) outscored the Cougars 24-3 in the second half, even though leading rusher Ken Simonton was held to a career-low 19 yards in the game.

“We came up big when we had to,” Newman said. “When we needed a stop, we got it.”

The same could not be said of the Beavers, who gave up 243 rushing yards and 137 passing yards to the Cougars.

Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser had an subpar day, completing 12 of 22 passes for 93 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked three times.

Gesser was quick to credit Minnich, a 27-year-old ex-Marine who had a career-high 34 carries, caught a touchdown pass and threw a touchdown pass on his first collegiate pass attempt.

“We rode his back and he carried us through the whole game,” Gesser said.

“The offensive line was opening up great big holes and I was running through them,”

Oregon State, ranked 11th in the preseason, lost its second consecutive game.

“Their offensive front really got a lot better since last year,” OSU coach Dennis Erickson said of the Cougars, who were pounded last season by the Beavers, 38-9.

Erickson was at a loss to explain a first half in which the Beavers produced just 102 yards while giving up 275.

“There were some decent things in the second half,” Erickson said. “But to play like that (first half) and then come out and play real well for a period of time boggles my mind.

“We’ve got seven games left, a lot of games against a lot of good teams,” Erickson said. “I’d like to think we are better than 1-3. I’m leaving here a lot more encouraged than I did at halftime.”

Erickson, who formerly coached the Cougars, lost for the first time in three games against WSU since returning to the Pacific 10.

Erik Coleman intercepted Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith on the fourth play of the game and returned the ball 47 yards for a touchdown.

On Washington State’s first possession, Gesser hit Minnich on a swing pass and Minnich bulled seven yards for a 14-0 lead.

Drew Dunning added a 37-yard field goal for the Cougars late in the first.

In a bizarre sequence on Washington State’s next possession, Gesser was intercepted by Terrell Roberts, but Roberts fumbled on the return. The Cougars’ Joey Hollenbeck pounced on the ball to give Washington State possession on Oregon State’s 23. Gesser was injured on the pass and replaced by Matt Kegel.

Minnich took a handoff from Kegel and threw a 22-yard pass to Nakoa McElrath for a 24-0 Washington State lead.

Oregon State’s Noah Happe recovered a Minnich fumble in Washington State territory early in the second quarter. But Smith fumbled on a handoff to Simonton on the first play and Fred Shavies recovered for the Cougars. Gesser lofted a 13-yard scoring pass to Mike Bush for a 31-0 lead with 10:23 left in the first half.

Oregon State came back in the third quarter. Smith threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Patrick McCall on fourth-and-3 for the Beavers’ first touchdown. Ryan Cesca added his second field goal of the game.

Oregon State’s Kenny Farley blocked Alan Cox’s punt midway through the fourth and Jason Lowe picked it up and ran into the end zone to cut the deficit to 34-20 with 6:41 left. Oregon State’s Mitch Meeuwsen added a touchdown on a fumble recovery in the final seconds.

Smith finished 16 of 26 for 180 yards, with two interceptions.

Roberts had two interceptions for the Beavers.