In a season wrought by so many disappointments, the Oregon State Beavers had a chance to make them all disappear Saturday. Instead, it turned out to be just another disappointment in a 17-14 Oregon victory.
The 2001 Oregon State senior class has been credited with the turnaround of a perennial bottom-feeder, and it helped the Beavers win a school-record 11 games last season, including a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
“It was really disappointing for those seniors who worked so darn hard and played so darn hard in this game,” head coach Dennis Erickson said after his second losing season in 12 years as a college coach. “Our guys played their rear ends off. I can’t ask anything more of them.”
Against Oregon, senior Ken Simonton failed in his attempt to become the fifth running back in NCAA history to rush for 1,000 yards in four straight seasons. He finished the game with 84 yards on 26 carries, moving him into 15th on the NCAA career rushing chart with 4,802 yards.
“Records are made to be broken, and it was really cool to be so close,” Simonton said. “It’s not a big deal. I’m not walking away from the game, I’m walking into the real game. I’m not going away.”
With 248 yards, senior quarterback Jonathan Smith became the Beavers’ all-time leader in total offense. Already OSU’s all-time passing leader, Smith now has 9,209 yards of total offense.
Smith’s last pass, however, was hard to swallow — as it was swallowed into the hands of Oregon defensive back Rashad Bauman, effectively ending the Beavers last-minute drive Saturday.
“This loss is frustrating,” Smith said. “I thought we ran it well and moved it well and had good rhythm going, but we didn’t put the ball in the end zone.”
Leading 6-3 heading into the fourth quarter, Oregon State’s chances for an upset were erased when Keenan Howry returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown, giving the Ducks a 10-6 advantage.
“I didn’t hang it up and let my coverage team get down there and cover it,” punter Carl Tobey said of Howry’s punt return. “We thought if we could hang it up and give the coverage team time, we could contain (Howry), but it didn’t happen that way.”
At 5-6 overall (3-5 Pacific-10 Conference), the Beavers were denied a third consecutive trip to a bowl game.
“We had some goals a lot higher than 5-6,” Erickson said. “We are going to have to sit down and evaluate where we are at and sit back for a second and go from there.”