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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- For nearly three decades, Oregon State
was the laughingstock of college football. But no more.
Roddy Tompkins caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Jonathan
Smith early in the fourth quarter, and the Beavers returned a
fumble for another score Saturday night to seal their first winning
regular season in 29 years with a 17-7 victory over California.
|  | | Ken Simonton has provided punch in the Oregon State offense. |
"We're trying to build a tradition, and I think we started
right now," said linebacker Darnell Robinson, whose interception
set up Tompkins' touchdown.
The comeback win helped the Beavers (6-3, 3-3 Pac-10) break
their NCAA Division I-record streak that began with the 1971 season
and endured through the decades, making Oregon State synonymous
with dismal college football.
Dee Andros, who coached the Beavers to a 6-5 record in 1970 but
oversaw its decline later in the decade, may have been happiest to
see the losing skid go away.
"They took a monkey off my back, there is no doubt in my
mind," said the 75-year-old Andros, known as the "Great Pumpkin"
because he roamed the sidelines in a huge orange windbreaker. "I
told them if they won this game tonight I wouldn't need my car, I'd
just fly home."
The victory, which also made Oregon State eligible for the
postseason for the first time since the 1965 Rose Bowl, was
anything but certain against Cal (4-5, 3-3).
The Beavers, who came in third in the nation in total offense at
nearly 488 yards a game, gained just 147 first-half yards against
Cal's hard-hitting defense, and the score looked like it might hold
up.
But Oregon State, under its new coach Dennis Erickson, got a
huge break late in the third quarter when Robinson intercepted a
pass that deflected off two players.
Bears quarterback Kyle Boller zipped a pass toward Ronnie
Davenport, but the ball bounced off his back as he was hit from
behind by safety Calvin Carlyle. The ball ticked off Carlyle's leg,
and Robinson snared it at the Cal 41.
On the next play, Oregon State's Jonathan Smith found a
wide-open Tompkins, who beat cornerback LaShaun Ward and tiptoed
into the end zone to put the Beavers ahead 10-7 with 14:53 to play.
Two possessions later, Boller fumbled the snap, and blitzing
linebacker Tevita Moala picked up the ball and ran 24 yards for the
clinching touchdown with 9:41 to go.
"That's one of the greatest defensive efforts I've ever seen on
the football field," Erickson said. "What a win. We've been
talking about this for a long time, but we've got two games left
and we're looking forward to that, too."
Fans swarmed onto the Reser Stadium turf afte the win, but there
was no frenzied celebration. Strangely, the orange and black-clad
throng was almost orderly as it cheered and slowly filed out of the
stadium.
Maybe after 28 seasons of consistently awful football, they were
exhausted. Or perhaps they have learned to expect more from their
team, which over the past two years has gone from perennial Pac-10
doormat to sudden respectability.
Erickson, a graduate assistant at Washington State when the
Beavers last had a winning record, came out of the locker room and
pumped his arms into the air, yelling "Thank you! Thank you!" to
the crowd.
Erickson, who was fired after four unsuccessful seasons with the
Seattle Seahawks, promised boosters and fans a winner this season,
and he delivered. But it was Mike Riley, now coach of the San Diego
Chargers, who started the turnaround, going from 3-8 his first year
to 5-6 last season.
Erickson, taking Riley's recruits and augmenting them with
junior-college transfers, implemented the spread offense that made
his national championship teams at Miami so dangerous.
The coach also brought in big money from boosters. A $5 million
donation from Oregon refrigerated foods entrepreneur Paul Reser,
for whom the stadium is named, signaled a rebirth for the
downtrodden, financially strapped athletic department.
Taken together with the general shoddiness of the Pac-10 this
season, the Beavers were almost a can't-miss proposition, even
after three straight losses dropped them to 3-3.
"Forget six and seven (victories), we're talking about eight,"
said Tompkins, whose fumble late in last year's game allowed Cal to
win 20-19.
Oregon State began the march toward breaking the streak with a
stunning 55-7 rout of UCLA, then defeated Washington State 27-13
last week. The Beavers have two games left -- against Arizona and at
Oregon.
"This is the reason I came to Oregon State -- to turn this
program around," said senior offensive guard Aaron Koch. "We
don't plan on stopping here, either. We're going to win the next
two."
Coincidentally, it was Cal that was first on Oregon State's hit
list 29 years ago when the Beavers started 3-5 and had to win their
last three games to finish above .500.
The Bears, who had won six straight over Oregon State entering
Saturday's game, had just 21 rushing yards in the first half but
needed just one big play to take a 7-0 lead.
Cal, ranked 106th in the nation in total offense at 261 yards a
game, started at its own 2-yard line. Boller threw a simple screen
out to Drae Harris, who ran for an 83-yard touchdown with 1:53 left
in the first quarter.
The Beavers got a safety when Cal tight end Brian Surgener was
flagged for holding in the end zone with nine minutes left before
halftime.
The Beavers came back behind the running of Ken Simonton, who
finished with 134 yards on 31 carries.
Simonton, a sophomore, has 1,117 yards for his second straight
1,000-yard season. His two-point conversion run after Tompkins'
touchdown gave him 170 career points, breaking the school record
set by kicker Troy Bussanich from 1986-89.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
California Clubhouse
Oregon State Clubhouse
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