Beavers show they belong on big stage vs USC

USC won at the Coliseum on Saturday night, but it was Oregon State's relentless fight that should be remembered, now and next season.

LOS ANGELES – A 12-point halftime lead in the Coliseum? For eight of USC’s nine Pac-10 opponents, it’s time to get ready for the trip back home.

For Oregon State, it’s the invitation to a street fight.

As they have in every game since coach Mike Riley returned to Corvallis for a second stint leading the team, OSU fought, scratched, clawed and did everything possible to make USC’s life hell. Only when Damian Williams took back a punt return 63 yards for a touchdown did USC find enough room to again start breathing comfortably. Even then, OSU got touchdowns from the Rodgers to give the crowd flashbacks to that Thursday night last year that kept USC out of the national championship game.

Make no mistake about it, the Beavers came to win, something they haven’t done in Los Angeles since 1960.

“They got a group of fighters on that team,” USC linebacker Michael Morgan said.

USC won, setting up a huge showdown with Oregon next Saturday at a guaranteed-to-be-raucous Autzen Stadium, but it was OSU who confirmed its status as an elite team in this conference.

James and Jacquizz Rodgers are as good a receiver-running back duo as any in the country, accounting for 221 of the team's 482 yards of total offense. USC coach Pete Carroll called quarterback Sean Canfield a future first-round draft pick and he did nothing to challenge Carroll’s assertion, throwing for an effortless 329 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The defense reloads as quickly as the USC’s.

The bowl wins and the October resurrections are nice, but standing toe-to-toe with USC is the measuring stick.

Only a first-half red-zone meltdown kept OSU from throwing the already wild conference race into complete chaos. Four trips ended with four field goal attempts, and kicker Justin Kahut pushed one wide left.

Factor in a lost fumble – its first of the year, mind you – to set up a short USC touchdown and OSU was down 21-9.

Every break of the game, every penalty and bounce went against OSU.

“It was like the opposite almost (of last year),” USC defensive coordinator Rocky Seto said. “We had a slow start. This game, we started off better than them and they got the momentum, almost opposite from first half to the second half.”

“A lot of times when they scored, it looked like it would be hard to get back in it but we kept trying. I do love that about our team,” Riley said. “I don’t want to sell our team short. We had every opportunity to win.”

Riley must now be recognized as one of the game’s elite coaches. At a program with little history, almost all of it bad before this decade, he has engineered a miraculous turnaround.

And the Rose Bowl, the destination for every Pac-10 team, might not be far away.

17 starters will return next season, including four of the five linemen who pave the way for Jacquizz. Conference heavyweights USC, Cal and Oregon all come to Reser Stadium.

It might only be October, but it’s not too early to proclaim OSU a viable challenger for the 2010 Pac-10 title.

It’s certainly not too early to say USC better watch its back next year in Corvallis. They’re in for another brawl.