Oregon State
Nevada
Beavers Open Erickson Era With A Win
September 04, 1999 | Football
Sept. 4, 1999
By Scott Sonner
Associated Press Writer
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Ken Simonton ran for 199 yards and three touchdowns and Martin Maurer scored on a 74-yard play in the fourth quarter as Oregon State beat Nevada 28-13 Saturday in Dennis Erickson's first game as the Beavers' coach.
With Oregon State trailing 13-7 in the fourth quarter, Maurer caught a short pass from Jonathan Smith and lumbered 74 yards down the sideline to put Oregon State ahead for the first time, 14-13, with 14:01 left in the season opener for both teams.
Simonton, a 5-foot-7 sophomore, added a 19-yard TD run and a 1-yard scoring plunge to cap the 21-point fourth quarter for the Beavers, who haven't had a winning season since 1970.
Smith completed 21 of 43 passes for 257 yards. Nevada sophomore quarterback David Neill completed 22 of 46 passes for 287 yards, but was intercepted twice and sacked four times.
Erickson, who led Miami to two national championships, was hired by Oregon State after getting fired by the Seattle Seahawks in January.
Nevada, trying to defeat its first Pac-10 team since 1947, went ahead 13-7 on Mike Phillips' 44-yard field goal with 28 seconds left in the third quarter.
But a heavy pass rush that bothered Neill all day kept the Wolf Pack from moving the ball much after that.
And after Norm Brady punted 67 yards out of his own end zone, Smith tossed a short pass to Maurer, who dodged one tackle and ran for the score.
Nevada drove to the Oregon State 24-yard line late in the game, but Beavers defensive tackle Eric Manning stripped the ball from running back Chris Lemon and recovered the fumble with 6:46 remaining.
Nevada scored first on Neill's 3-yard TD pass to Cleavon Brooks midway through the second quarter, but Simonton scored on a 5-yard run to make it 7-7 at 2:40 after Nevada's defense roughed the punter on a fourth-and-20 to keep the Beavers drive alive.
Neill threw a 40-yard pass to Trevor Insley to move to OSU's 7-yard line, but the Beaver defense stiffened and Nevada had to settle for Phillips' 21-yard field goal to put the Wolf Pack ahead 10-7 at the half.
