Oregon State
USC
Beavers Give The Trojans A Run
October 02, 1999 | Football
Oct. 2, 1999
LOS ANGELES - Linebacker Zeke Moreno ran 17 yards with a recovered fumble for one touchdown and returned a pass interception 71 yards for a score Saturday as USC built a big lead and then held off Oregon State 37-29.
Moreno also had 11 tackles, two assists and a sack for the Trojans (3-1, 1-1 Pac-10), who beat the Beavers (3-1, 0-1) for the 26th consecutive time dating back 32 years.
It wasn't easy.
After taking a 37-7 lead into the fourth quarter, the Trojans survived a three-touchdown comeback led by backup quarterback Terrance Bryant. He threw for two touchdowns during the late rally, and the Beavers fell just short when Bryant threw incomplete on fourth-and-8 from the USC 31 with 21 seconds left.
After Bryant hooked up with Robert Prescott for a 53-yard TD with 1:33 remaining then passed to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for the 2-point conversion, the Beavers got one final chance. Dennis Weathersby recovered a fumble by USC's Chad Morton at the Trojans 41 with 1:19 to play, but the Trojans finally held at their 31.
R. Jay Soward had an 85-yard punt return for the Trojans 4:22 into the game, and Morton, who rushed for 153 yards on 27 carries, added touchdown runs of 2 and 15 yards.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak dating back to last year for Oregon State, the perennial Pac-10 doormat. The Beavers began this season with three victories, but those came against Fresno State, Nevada and Georgia Southern.
Oregon State last beat USC in 1967, when the Beavers shut out the then-No. 1 Trojans 3-0 in the mud at Corvallis. Oregon State last defeated USC at the Coliseum in 1960.
Moreno, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound junior, scored late in the first half when he plucked a fumble by Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith out of the air and was off to the end zone. Ennis Davis caused the fumble when he sacked Smith.
Moreno had clear sailing again to the goal line again in the third quarter after he leaped high to snare Smith's throw.
Bryant was 12-of-26 for 155 yards for the Beavers, and Smith was 14-of-31 for 185 yards, with two interceptions.
The Trojans' Mike Van Raaphorst, back as the starter because Carson Palmer is out with a broken collarbone, was 17-of-31 for 197 yards.
The Beavers' Ken Simonton, who led the nation in rushing and scoring (186.7 yards and 18 points a game) after three games, had 127 yards on 29 carries and scored on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter that cut the deficit to 37-21.
Soward's return was a broken-field beauty. He slipped a tackle and sprinted to his left, pulled up, darted up the middle, broke more tackles, cut sharply to his right, then turned upfield and into the open.
The Beavers came right back to tie the game, with Imani Percoats scoring on a 14-yard pass from Smith to cap an 85-yard drive.
