After dropping three of their last four games, Oregon State came out fired up against Southern Cal, taking down the Trojans 36-7. Jacquizz Rodgers rushed for over 100 yards and got into the end zone once, while the defense slowed down the potent USC offense for the majority of the game. Trojan QB Matt Barkley was knocked out midway through the game and the offense could not regroup after that.
- Give tons of credit to the coaching staff for keeping the players' spirits up after back-to-back disappointing losses to struggling teams. The players easily could have started looking forward to next season, but with their backs against the wall, the Beavers came out with a level of intensity that had not been seen since early in the season.
- The offensive line finally took a stand and paved the way for a fine performance from Jacquizz. When he has a little room to wriggle, his ability to shake defenders is further exemplified. It's one thing to try and escape the grasp of a monstrous defensive tackle, but when he gets into the second line of defense, making defensive backs look silly is a lot easier.
- Apart from the fantastic play of Jacquizz, Markus Wheaton stepped up again and provided a threat through the air and on the ground. While him and Ryan Katz missed a couple times on some deep routes, the threat to stretch the field kept the SC defense honest and opened up the the fly sweep and bubble screens.
- The defense shook off their tentative ways and came out with a sense of urgency, sniffing out the Trojan running game and keeping fairly consistent pressure on their quarterbacks. After the ankle injury of Barkley, backup Mitch Mustain was never able to settle in.
- Jordan Poyer showed off his potential to be a big time playmaker. He had been showing glimpses of his potential in the return game, and after his interception returned for a touchdown, gave himself a little notoriety on defense as well.
- A couple new sights that should occur more also happened Saturday night. First off, Mike Riley's unsportsman like conduct for getting a little riled up after a missed call was a sight to see. It's one thing to see Mike Stoops, Lane Kiffin or Jim Harbaugh whine at the officials, but mild mannered Riley throwing his head set down probably struck a chord with his players and showed them a little passion that he normally reserves. Also, between the third and fourth quarters, the team started dancing and jumping up and down together to AC/DC's "TNT", which not only fired the team up but got the fans back into the game as well, even with the lead comfortably in hand.
The Beavers take on Stanford next week in Palo Alto. The Cardinal are coming off a thrashing of their rival Cal, and their only loss of the season was at Oregon where they fell apart at the end of the game. The Beavers need to win one of their final two games against the Cardinal and Oregon to become bowl eligible.
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