Beavs carve up Stanford

IT WAS LIKE watching someone carve up a Thanksgiving turkey, what Sean Canfield did to the Stanford defense in the first half. Jacquizz Rodgers hadn't rushed for 100 yards the past three games -- against Stanford he topped the century mark in the first quarter. OSU's defense slowed down Toby Gerhart and it was a 31-7 black and orange punch in the mouth at halftime.

The numbers were impressive.

Jacquizz Rodgers tied an Oregon State record with four rushing touchdowns. He racked up a personal best 189 ground hashes.

Sean Canfield started 7-for-9 and finished 22-for-32 for 290 yards and a touchdown.

The Beaver defense didn't allow a third down conversion until the third quarter.

The official record will show a score of Oregon State 38, Stanford 28.

It wasn't that close.

Stanford, who came into the game atop the Pac-10 standings, made something of a run in the third quarter. They forced an OSU punt on the Beavs' first possession of the second half, closed to 31-14 and then shut down Oregon State again to forced another fourth down.

But Stanford roughed John Hekker and the Beavs then methodically marched downfield on the backs of Quizz and Canfield.

Quizz' fourth touchdown of the day, crafted by solid blocking on the offensive line, made it 38-14. And when the Beavs dealt Stanford another three-and-out, the Cardinal's last real hope fizzled, though they made things a little closer than OSU would have liked over the final nine minutes, including a Stanford TD with 0:25 left in the game.

As for the something's gotta give category -- Stanford came into the game No. 12 in the nation in rushing, Oregon State was 12th in run defense -- the Beavs won that battle.

Gerhart unofficially finished with 98 rushing yards, how lowest total of the season. It helped that OSU built such a big lead early, forcing Stanford to go to the pass earlier and more often than they would have liked.

The Beavs also finally debuted their Wildcat formation. Quizz ripped off a 61-yard gainer on the first direct snap to open the OSU scoring barrage.

We'll have more later on BF.C