FINAL POLLS: Beavs crack top 20

FOR THE THIRD consecutive year, Oregon State is ranked in the final polls' Top 25. Despite being picked to finish in the bottom half of the Pac-10 before the season began by the media, at the end of the 2008 campaign, the Beavers were ranked at No. 18 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Men in Black moved up six spots in both polls from the last release, and it marks the fifth consecutive week this season that OSU has been ranked. It is the longest such stretch since the 2000 season (9 weeks) when the Beavs finished No. 4 in the land in the AP.

The No. 18 ranking in the AP Poll is the ninth time OSU has completed a season ranked in the poll since it was established in 1936. It is the first time the Beavers have finished three seasons in a row ranked in the AP Poll.

It is only the third time since the inception of the USA Today Coaches poll in 1982 that Oregon State has finished the season ranked in the Coaches' poll.

Four of the Beavers' 13 opponents this season finished ranked in the top 10 of the AP, as Utah checked in at No. 2, USC at No. 3, Penn State at No. 8 and Oregon at No. 10. Meanwhile, California, Pittsburgh and Arizona all received votes.

Five of OSU's 13 opponents this season finished ranked in the Coaches' Poll, with USC coming in at No. 2, Utah at No. 4, Penn State at No. 8, Oregon at No. 9 and California at No. 25. Pittsburgh and Arizona also received votes.


Click here for the final AP Poll
Click here for the final USAToday Coaches Poll