Time to give the Beavers some more love

The Oregon State Beavers, that is.

After watching today's Sun Bowl between #25 Oregon State and #38 Missouri, sign me up as a fan of the Beavers. My predicted upset over USC earlier this year also plays a factor in this decision. However it mainly took one play from today's game for me to become a fan. Oregon State was not dominant today by any means, in fact they only won by a point. Rather, it is how they won.

Down by 14 points in the second half, the Beavers rallied back at the end of the game. With 0:21 left on the clock, down 38-31, Oregon State passed for a touchdown to make the score 38-37. A probable extra point would tie the game and most likely send it into overtime. It was then that head coach Mike Riley showed some real guts and faith in his football team and unbelievably went for a 2-point conversion, and thus the lead. With Missouri on their heels, expecting an extra point, Coach Riley put the game in the hands of his offensive line by going up the middle with the halfback.

Running back Yvenson Bernard crossed the end zone line for a successful conversion and a 39-38 lead. Missouri had about 15 seconds for a quick score, but their drive was unsuccessful as time ran out near mid-field. Truly this was the gutsiest college football play I have seen this season. Heck, I would not have even tried that on PS2! Furthermore, this amazing play capped off what has thus far been the most exciting bowl game of the season (note: the Houston/South Carolina Liberty Bowl has been pretty exciting as well through halftime). It's one of the plays where hindsight shows the coach is gutsy if it works, and an idiot if it doesn't.

All that matters for me, and Oregon State for that matter, is that Coach Riley was gutsy and I am now a fan of their team. Kudos to the Beavers!