So much for our opinion of the until now sorry state of Oregon State football...the Beavers shocked Southern California's Trojans and the entire collegiate grid world with an inspired 33-31 upset of a team that had rung up 27 straight victories. We were there, just as we were in 1967 when the Beavers knocked off the undefeated and national poll leaders of Troy.

Though SC has been lesas impressive this season than in the past pair, the Trojans figured to have no trouble with what until Saturday had ben a mediocre Beaver group. It was not that the legions of Troy played poorly, it was a performance for the ages of a Beaver squad determined to silence its critics.

No boos by his own fans for Bevo QB Matt Moore...he performed almost flawlessly and backup running back Clinton Polk soon eclipsed the OSU depression over the loss of rushing star Yvenson Bernard to injury. OSU coach Mike Riley had little respect until this triumph and could fashion a
bowl appearance if his subjects can recover from their SC euphoria. Next up for the Beavs, hosting of an up and down Arizona State crew...a game we rate a tossup.

Oregon's Ducks ran roughshod, as they should've, over Portland State and now host a Washington Husky team that narrowly lost to Arizona State despite being plagued by QB injuries. We expect the Ducks to fashion a narrow win and stay in the running for a major bowl and a chance to repeat next week what the Beavers did to USC.

The Pac10 now has Cal and SC on top with one conference loss each, closely followed by Oregon. California inexplicably folded in its opener at Tennessee, but we believe the Bears have bounced back to be the class of the Pac10, which will be confirmed when they play SC Nov. 18.

Washington State has earned respect with back to back wins over Oregon and UCLA and has a chance to finish strong with conference wins over Arizona, Arizona State and Washington.

© 2006  Oregon Magazine