Southern California @ Oregon State preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 24, 2009 ) Oregon State 36, Southern California 42

Whether it was the loss of electric wide receiver James Rodgers or not, the Oregon State football team has suddenly fallen on hard times, so much so that their once-promising bowl aspirations are now on life-support.

The Beavers host red-hot USC in a must-win situation if they are to become bowl eligible Saturday at Corvallis, Ore.

Rodgers’ loss came at the wrong time for the Beavers, who had climbed the national poll piling up the points in bunches. Once Rodgers went down in an Oct. 10 game against Arizona, the Beavers have struggled on offense. Rodgers scored 11 touchdowns before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He was perhaps the nation’s best return man and scored both through the air (twice) and on the ground nine times.

Oregon State (4-5, 3-3 Pac 10) has lost three of its last four games, including the last two without Rodgers. It lost against a struggling UCLA team at Los Angeles when Kai Forbath booted a 52-yard field goal on the game’s final play as the Bruins snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Beavers' last loss was even more regrettable as Washington State snapped a 16-game losing streak in the Pac-10 with an unlikely 31-14 win despite Oregon State being a 23.5-point favorite.

The Beavers still have one part of the Rodgers’ brothers on the field and he’s doing all he can. Running back Jacquizz Rodgers is third in the league in rushing with an average of 99.2 yards and tied for second with 13 rushing TDs. Jacquizz Rodgers rushed for 113 yards and a score on 20 carries in a 42-36 loss to USC last season.

Oregon State has to win two of its final three games to earn a bowl bid and neither of them are easy. USC is ranked 17th, Stanford is ranked eighth and rival Oregon is No. 1 in the coaches’ poll.

USC is ineligible for a bowl appearance because of NCAA sanctions, but it hasn’t stopped the Trojans from getting on a roll as the season draws to an end. USC (7-3, 4-3 Pac 10) is tied for third place with Arizona after it defeated the Wildcats last week 24-21.

USC rushed for 206 yards and Matt Barkley added to his conference-leading touchdown total of 25 and raised his passing yards to 2,518 on the season. But Marc Tyler was the story against Arizona, rushing for career highs of 160 yards on 31 carries.

Expect plenty of points in this one as USC is third in the conference in scoring, averaging 35.2 points per game. Oregon State has scored just 14 points in each of its last two games.

The last time these two teams met at Corvallis, Oregon State knocked off then No. 1 ranked USC 27-21 in 2008.