Oregon State Takes Down USC 36-7

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- Ryan Katz threw for 154 yards and two touchdowns while Jacquizz Rodgers rushed for 128 yards and another score, and Oregon State defeated No. 20 Southern California 36-7 Saturday night.

The Beavers (5-5, 4-3 Pac-10) built a 20-0 lead by halftime, hoping to avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2002.

The Trojans (7-4, 4-4) lost quarterback Matt Barkley to a sprained left ankle just before the break. But they were already doomed by the purposeful Beavers, who are fighting for bowl eligibility.

Southern California has lost three straight in Corvallis, including a 27-21 upset to the Beavers in 2008, which was the Trojans' only loss that season and cost them a shot at the national championship.

Losses this season to UCLA and Washington State have put Oregon State in a hole when it comes to a bowl berth. After the Trojans, the Beavers visit No. 7 Stanford before hosting top-ranked Oregon in the annual Civil War rivalry game.

The Beavers looked nothing like the team that lost to the Bruins and the Cougars, jumping on USC from the start with a 34-yard field goal from Justin Kahut before Jordan Poyer's 65-yard interception return.

Oregon State went up 17-0 midway through the second half on Rodgers' 3-yard touchdown run. Kahut added a 38-yard field goal.

Barkley sprained his left ankle just before the half and was helped off the field before he was taken away on a cart. He had completed 10 of 19 passes for 75 yards against the Beavers.

Backup Mitch Mustain took over in the second half.

Kahut opened the second half with a 35-yard field goal before USC scored on C.J. Gable's 13-yard scoring run.

Jordan Bishop caught a 5-yard touchdown pass and Joe Halhuni caught an 8-yard score for the final margin. Katz completed 17 of 24 throws.

Barkley completed 10 of 19 passes for 75 yards before he left. Mustain completed eight of 17 passes for 60 yards.

USC leads the series against the Beavers 59-11-4. But the Beavers have won two of the last four meetings -- both in Corvallis. In 2006, the Trojans were ranked No. 3 and Oregon State pulled off a 33-31 upset, snapping USC's 27-game Pac-10 winning streak.

Then in 2008 the Trojans were ranked No. 1 when the Beavers derailed them. Southern California went 12-1 that season and whipped Penn State in the Rose Bowl, after which former coach Pete= Carroll famously said he thought USC could have won against either team that went to the BCS title game that year.

Since then, USC has given way to top-ranked Oregon, the defending Pac-10 champion. Carroll has departed to the Seattle Seahawks and Lane Kiffin took over a team that was later sanctioned by the NCAA for violations involving former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. One of the penalties was a two-year postseason ban.

The Trojans were dealing with more controversy this week. Promising freshman tailback Dillon Baxter didn't make the trip to Corvallis after what Kiffin characterized as an inadvertent contact with an agent earlier this week.

On a video posted on the Trojans' website, Kiffin said Baxter got a ride on campus Thursday in a golf cart driven by two students. The coach said USC later learned one of the students "may be an agent."

The school immediately reported the incident to the NCAA.

When Baxer did not participate in Thursday's practice, the Trojans announced he had been briefly hospitalized because of an illness and dehydration. It wasn't immediately clear whether both stories about Thursday's events were true.

Oregon State and USC will not meet again until 2013 because of Pac-10 expansion.

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