Black & Orange YouTube: The Stand

FOUR OREGON STATE GAMES this season will be on Versus and if any of them match in terms of drama this one broadcast on the network last year, Beaver fans will be in high heaven. Most prognosticators in Week 6 forecast an easy win for No. 2 Cal over Oregon State, but the Beavers' defense dug in. And with Cal on the doorstep, they turned away the Bears not once, but twice late in the game.

THE SET UP:
Cal was ranked No. 2 in the country coming in and with No. 1 LSU going down that Saturday, Cal was poised to aascend to the No. 1 spot in the polls.

Oregon State, meanwhile, was sitting at 3-3 and needed to get on a roll if they were going to make some noise in the Pac-10 this year.

Everyone remembers the final stand, but the Beavs turned away the Bears twice in that game and this one was big given what came later.



A taut OSU defense had led the way but Cal took a 21-20 lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. The Beavs came roaring back.

Yvenson Bernard on fourth-and-goal from the 1 gave the Beavers the lead, Sean Canfield hit Anthony Brown on the 2-point conversion and it was 28-21 in favor of the Beavers. Alexis Serna kicked his third field goal of the game to make it 31-21.

Cal staged their own rally and in the end, the game came down to the final play.

BeaverFootball.com articles on the Cal win

BF.C NOTES: 'That was a game of guts'
Drive Chart: Oregon State at California
RECAP: Oregon State bests California
PHOTOS: Oregon State at California
Turnovers key to victory, rest of season
QUOTES: Oregon State at California
Beavers named national team of the week
Bernard named offensive POW


FINAL THOUGHT:
The Beavs seemed to feed on the drama of the Cal win, carrying it through the rest of the season. The Beavers also seemingly took the air out of Cal with the win. The Golden Bears went from the lofty position of being the virtually certain heir to the No. 1 spot midway through the year... to winning only once more during the regular season and finishing unranked at 7-6. Oregon State went 5-1 after the win over Cal, including a Civil War win and bowl game victory, and OSU finished ranked in the final AP poll for the second straight season.