November 14, 2004 in Sports

Anderson tosses three TDs in Beavers’ victory

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Oregon State’s bowl hopes now come down to the Civil War game against archrival Oregon — and the Beavers wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s a must-win for the Ducks, too.

Derek Anderson passed for 334 yards and three touchdowns and Oregon State kept its postseason chances alive, surviving a late scare to beat Stanford 24-19 on Saturday in Stanford, Calif.

Anthony Wheat-Brown caught 11 passes for 117 yards and Mike Hass finished with eight catches for 110 yards for the Beavers (5-5, 4-3 Pac-10).

Anderson connected with Dwight Wright, Hass and Joe Newton for first-half touchdowns, and the Beavers outgained Stanford 370-248 despite a dismal running game to defeat the Cardinal for the fourth straight time and fifth of six.

The Beavers have won three in a row on the road for the first time since 2000.

“For everybody concerned, it’s awesome,” Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. “It was great for our team. The road is always a little tougher, but we keep battling for our respectability. This was a step forward.

“The table is set. Everything is out there. We play the Ducks with a chance to go to a bowl game. It’s there for the taking.”

The Beavers have made big strides since sitting at 1-4 only five weeks ago. They’ve won four of five since a 49-7 home loss to fifth-ranked California on Oct. 2.

Stanford (4-6, 2-5) lost its fourth straight, was eliminated from bowl contention, and is going to be hard-pressed to improve on last season’s 4-7 finish when the Cardinal wrap up their season at Cal in the Big Game next week.

Redshirt freshman T.C. Ostrander made his first collegiate start at quarterback for Stanford in place of injured starter Trent Edwards, who has a sprained shoulder in his non-throwing arm.

Ostrander had a pretty 51-yard touchdown pass to Evan Moore negated because of holding just before halftime. After David Marrero’s 62-yard punt return in the third, Ostrander threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Mark Bradford to make it 21-13.

Moore caught a 26-yard TD pass from Ostrander with 7:12 left, but the Cardinal failed on the two-point conversion that would have tied the game. Moore had the ball in his grasp but couldn’t hold on.

Alexis Serna answered with a 37-yard field goal for the Beavers with 1:23 remaining, and Keith Ellison got a game-sealing interception moments later.

“I thought I had an up-and-down first half, and we played ourselves into a hole,” Ostrander said. “I was a little disappointed in my play. Guys were there, but I couldn’t hit them. That last play was disappointing.”

(1) Southern Cal 49, Arizona 9

Like last week at Oregon State, it was a slow start for the Trojans, but the nation’s top-ranked team got untracked in the second half and routed the Wildcats at Los Angeles.

The Trojans had 68 yards offense in the first quarter, compared to more than 300 in the third quarter when they scored 21 points to take command.

Arizonaled 3-0 after one quarter and trailed 14-3 at halftime.

Last week in the fog at Oregon State, the Trojans trailed 6-0 after one quarter and 13-7 at halftime before defeating the Beavers 28-20.

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