SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The days of Ken Simonton, Steven Jackson, Yvenson Bernard and Jacquizz Rodgers are long gone.
Head coach Mike Riley has always preached the approach of setting the tone with the running game. It's just not happening for the 2011 Beavers.
Oregon State University lost its eighth game of the season, 23-6 to the University of California, Berkeley, Saturday at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
The game was as lopsided as the final rushing totals.
Oregon State only gained 27 rushing yards Saturday. Meanwhile, Cal, led by Isi Sofele, ran all over the Beavers to the tune of 296 yards. "They rushed for 300 yards," Riley said. "That pretty much tells the tale."
Cal had an impressive combination of power and speed on the ground. Sofele, the more elusive and quicker back, ran for 190 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. And then Cal gave OSU a hefty dose of C.J. Anderson (14 carries, 96 yards), a more punishing, powerful runner.
Oregon State starting running back Malcolm Agnew finished the day with three yards on six attempts.
"We just keep working on it," Riley said. "We've been an excellent running team in our lives at Oregon State. We've had great runners and we've had good lines, and we've had very, very good production."
All of that history doesn't matter now if the Beavers continue to get out-produced on the ground like they have. In Oregon State's last three games, all losses, they have been out-gained on the ground by a mark of 821-92.
"We're just not running the ball well enough to be a balanced football team, which is what we need to be if we're going to win," Riley said. "It was very apparent tonight."
Aside from the big difference in rushing numbers, turnovers in the red zone may have done the Beavers in the most.
"Those are definitely momentum-killers, to be honest," said starting right tackle Colin Kelly. "We're almost there. We're pushing. We're trying to get ourselves back in the game and we turn the ball over right when you can almost taste it. It's hard. It's bitter. It's a bitter taste in your mouth."
Twice in the red zone, with the game still well in reach, Oregon State turned the ball over. The first was a fluky third-quarter circus interception that bounced away from James Rodgers and into the hands of Cal safety D.J. Campbell.
The second turnover was a clear indicator of the inexperience of this Oregon State team. A fumbled exchange between quarterback Sean Mannion and tailback Jovan Stevenson on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line ruined Oregon State's chances of making it a one score game early in the fourth quarter. It was simply bad execution on a very routine play.
"That's something we need to improve, obviously," Mannion said. "As an offense, we've got to take pride in getting points whenever we're in the red zone."
"It feels really frustrating right now," Riley said. "It just didn't feel like good football. I thought this would and could have been a good football game. I think if we'd have taken advantage of more opportunities and scored."
Oregon State is looking down the barrel of their worst season in 15 years now. The Beavers went 3-8 in 1997, Riley's first year. They have won at least five games every year since then.
Considering a home game versus the University of Washington and an away game versus the University of Oregon is all that remains on the schedule, Oregon State will end the season with two, three or four wins.
"No one's going to quit," Mannion said. "We're going to keep working and continue to stay positive, and just try to get better as a team."
The last two weeks is all the Beavers have left to prove something; not just to the people watching, but to themselves.
"We're not going anywhere at the end of the season," Riley said. "So we've got to get everything we can out of the last six practices."
Warner Strausbaugh, sports writer
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