Anthony Hankerson rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown as Oregon State rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Washington State 10-7 on Saturday night, winning the first of two meetings between the only remaining Pac-12 teams.
The matchup was officially a non-conference game since the Beavers and Cougars will meet again on Nov. 29 in Pullman for their season finale, which will determine this year’s two-team Pac-12 champion.
Oregon State (2-7) trailed 7-3 early in the fourth quarter before Hankerson powered in from a yard out with 9:52 left to give the Beavers the lead.
Washington State (4-5) had a chance to tie it in the final minute, but kicker Jack Stevens’ 32-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right with 1:05 remaining.
“We were hungry for it, man,” Hankerson said after the win. “Everybody in the locker room was hungry. We extremely wanted to win.”
Caleb Ojeda gave Oregon State a 3-0 lead with a 35-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Washington State responded on the next drive with a seven-play, 75-yard march capped by Kirby Vorhees’ 3-yard touchdown run.
The Beavers managed just 185 total yards on offense, but their defense dominated the second half, holding the Cougars scoreless, intercepting quarterback Zevi Eckhaus twice, and sacking him six times.
“It was a basic chip-shot field goal. We missed it,” Cougars head coach Jimmy Rogers said. “A lot of things went wrong today. Proud of our defense, how they played, they just kept responding, but we can’t score seven points and expect to win a game.”
The Beavers’ win marked another turnaround since interim head coach Robb Akey took over after Oregon State fired Trent Bray following an 0-7 start.
Akey also made a quarterback change, benching Maalik Murphy in favor of sophomore Gabbari Johnson.
Johnson helped lead the Beavers to a win over Lafayette on Oct. 18, but he exited Saturday’s game in the third quarter with what appeared to be a foot or lower leg injury. Murphy returned to finish the game.
“To see our guys smiling the way that they are right now was really, really cool,” Akey said. “To see them overcome adversity and fight themselves through it, find a way to finish—they took some steps forward, and that was really, really cool.”
After the collapse of the Pac-12 in 2023 left only Oregon State and Washington State behind, both programs spent last season playing a mix of Mountain West opponents.
Next year, the schools will revive a new version of the Pac-12 that includes Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State, and Gonzaga as a non-football member.
Washington State, led by first-year coach Rogers, still needs two wins in its final three games to become bowl eligible.
The Cougars have a bye next weekend before hosting Louisiana Tech on Nov. 15.
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