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Friday, December 13, 2002
Oregon State 31, No. 7 USC 21
Associated Press
BOX SCORE
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Ken Simonton ran for a career-high 234 yards and three touchdowns as Oregon State earned a 31-21 victory over No. 7 Southern Cal on Saturday to end its 26-game losing streak to the Trojans.
|  | | Oregon State's Ken Simonton sprints through the USC defense. |
The last time the Beavers (4-0, 1-0 Pac-10) beat Southern Cal (3-1, 0-1) was a 3-0 victory over the then-No. 1 Trojans in 1967. The Trojans went on to win the national championship anyway, and Oregon State began its long decline.
Last season, Oregon State ended another embarrassing streak with its first winning season in 29 years. The 26-game losing streak to the Trojans was a Pac-10 record.
Simonton, who had 37 carries, scored on a 2-yard run with 11:14 left to give Oregon State a 21-14 lead.
Southern Cal had a 49-yard pass negated by an illegal procedure penalty and was forced to punt, with T.J. Houshmandzadeh returning the ball 36 yards to the Trojans' 27.
Ryan Cesca then connected on his first field-goal attempt of the year, a 41-yarder that made it 24-14 with 8:04 left.
Southern Cal closed to 24-21 after Oregon State's punter bobbled the ball and had to fall on it on the Beavers' 12.
Carson Palmer completed an 11-yard pass to Malaefou Mackenzie and a 1-yard TD pass to Chad Pierson to bring the Trojans within three with 2:16 left.
With the Beavers trying to run out the clock, Simonton bolted downfield for a 36-yard TD run that made it 31-21 with 1:36 left.
The clock was still ticking down its final seconds when orange-and-black clad Beavers fans rushed onto the field -- hugging each other, mobbing the players and jumping up and down.
Oregon State's Jonathan Smith completed 10 of 29 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown. Southern Cal's Carson Palmer was 19-of-38 for 282 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Simonton's second touchdown was set up when Oregon State downed a punt on the Trojans' 1. On the next play, the Beavers forced tailback Petros Papadakis to fumble on the 6 and Oregon State's Calvin Carlyle recovered it.
Three plays later, Simonton scored his second TD of the game.
Southern Cal was haunted by penalties. Its offense also sputtered after losing rushing leader Sultan McCullough to an injury two minutes into the third quarter.
At the beginning of the third quarter, Palmer threw an apparent 4-yard touchdown pass to Antoine Harris, but the Trojans were called for delay of game. David Newbury's 26-yard field-goal try then hit the right upright.
A 49-yard pass after the Beavers' go-ahead touchdown was called back for illegal procedure.
Oregon State had a productive first quarter, racking up 202 total yards and taking a 14-0 lead in the first 10 minutes.
The Beavers scored on Jonathan Smith's 15-yard TD pass to Chad Johnson and a 20-yard run by Simonton. Simonton broke an arm tackle, spun away from a defender and sprinted 14 yards through three other Trojans to score.
Southern Cal cut the lead to 14-7 with just over two minutes left in the quarter on an eight-play, 71-yard drive that ended with Palmer's 12-yard pass to Matt Nickels.
The Trojans tied it early in the second quarter when linebacker Zeke Moreno returned Patrick McCall's fumble 80 yards for a touchdown.
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