Oregon State Looks to Upset No. 2 Cal in Berkeley

You can hear the game live on 1490 KBZY AM in Salem, and on 860 KPAM AM in the Portland-metro area.

Yvenson Bernard had a career-high 194 yards rushing in a 2005 win at California. Photo courtesy: OSU Athletics/Gregory McKie

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State will need to play its best game of the year this Saturday if it hopes to be victorious when it travels to Berkeley to play the No. 2 California Golden Bears in a nationally televised game on the Versus Network.

The Beavers have been successful of late at Cal’s Memorial Stadium winning three straight, but this is not the same Cal team that the Beavers have faced before.

The Bears actually moved up one position in this week’s polls while being idle. Cal hasn’t opened the season 6-0 since winning its first nine in 1950 -- finishing with an appearance in the Rose Bowl.

VS. THE ELITE:

Oregon State hasn’t played a team ranked as high as No. 2 California on the road since a 52-28 loss to then No. 2 USC Dec. 6, 2003. The last time the program won on the road against a No. 1 or No.2 team was Oct. 21, 1967 at second-ranked Purdue -- 22-14.

IN THE BAY:

Oregon State has enjoyed recent success in the Bay Area; it’s last loss in 1999 at Stanford. Since then, OSU is 3-0 on the road at both Cal and Stanford.

BEAVERS IN BERKELEY:

Oregon State has won three consecutive games at California -- the longest streak by a Pac-10 team at Memorial Stadium.

In 2005, the last meeting between the two programs in Berkeley, OSU upset No. 18 Cal 23-20. The home team in the series, which Cal leads overall 33-26, has lost each of the last two games.

GROUND CONTROL:

Oregon State’s running backs have had tremendous success at California in recent seasons. Here is a closer look:

Oct. 15, 2005 -- Yvenson Bernard, 194 yards (career-high), 2 tds.

Oct. 4, 2003 -- Steven Jackson, 227 yards, 2 tds

Nov. 4, 2000 -- Ken Simonton, 125 yards, 3 tds

TOUGH ROAD:

Five of Oregon State’s six road opponents appear in this week’s Associated Press top-25.

California checks in at No. 2, Oregon at No. 9, USC at No. 10, Arizona State is No. 14 and Cincinnati is No. 15.

Washington State is the only team the Beavers face on the road that is currently not ranked.

The Beaver football program has never played five road games against nationally ranked foes -- in 1950 it did play five away from Corvallis, but three of those games were held in Portland.

FIRST QUARTER BLITZ:

Oregon State has outscored its opponents 78-6 in the first quarter this season and over the last 15 games has a margin of 158-30.

On the down side, the Beavers have been outscored 55-27 in the fourth quarter, including 48-6 over the last three games.

OSU’s 78 points are the most scored by any BCS team in the opening quarter, Oklahoma has 77.

The 72-point margin in the quarter trails only Kansas’ 75 (78-3 in 3rd) as the largest in the BCS.

Source: OSU Athletics

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