Nov. 12, 2005
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Corvalis, Ore. (AP) - Trent Edwards found Justin McCullum with a pair of touchdown passes and Stanford moved a step closer to bowl eligibility with a 20-17 victory over Oregon State on Saturday.
Edwards, who injured his thumb late in the third quarter and was replaced by T.C. Ostrander, completed 16 of 28 passes for 196 yards. McCullum had seven catches for 119 yards for the Cardinal (5-4, 4-3), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
The Beavers (5-5, 3-4) lost quarterback Matt Moore to what appeared to be a right knee injury in the second quarter, and kicker Alexis Serna uncharacteristically missed three field goals after making six attempts the week before. Oregon State also had 11 penalties for 123 yards.
The Cardinal needs one more win with two games left - the Big Game against California and another at home against Notre Dame - to be considered for a bowl invitation.
Oregon State senior Mike Hass was playing his final game at Reser Stadium and had six catches for 140 yards. The former walk-on went into the game leading the nation with an average of 142.78 receiving yards a game.
The Beavers have one more game, the annual Civil War against No. 11 Oregon.
Moore completed five of 14 passes for 94 yards and a score before he was hit by Stanford linebacker Michael Okwo and left the game with an injured right knee. He was replaced by backup Ryan Gunderson, who was 11-of-26 for 156 yards.
Serna's third miss was a 52-yard attempt with 16 seconds left in the game that fell short.
Moore hit Anthony Wheat-Brown with a 24-yard scoring pass on the first series of the game for an early Beavers' lead.
Stanford evened it on the next series with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to McCullum. Michael Sgroi gave the Cardinal the lead with a 25-yard field goal.
Edwards again found McCullum with a 20-yard TD pass to put Stanford ahead 17-10.
After Moore was injured, Gunderson was largely ineffective, so the Beavers' defense took over. Defensive end Jeff Van Orsow intercepted Edwards on the Stanford 22-yard-line and returned it for a touchdown to narrow Stanford's lead to 17-14.
As time wound down in the first half, Serna's 44-yard field goal attempt went wide left. That stopped Serna's string of consecutive made field goal attempts at 15, tying the school record set by Kirk Yliniemi in 2002.
Sgroi added a 31-yard field goal for Stanford to make it 20-14 in the third quarter, before Serna missed his second kick.
Serna made a 34-yard field goal late in third quarter to narrow it to 20-17. Sgroi's 38-yard attempt early in the fourth quarter was blocked by Beavers defensive tackle Sir Henry Anderson.
Stanford, which has not won five games in a season since the team won nine in 2001, snapped a four-game losing streak to Oregon State and won at Reser Stadium for the first time since 1997.