Excitement Reigns in Beaver Nation: Oregon State Dethrones The No.1 USC Trojans | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Suspended high above the Reser Stadium turf, ESPN's "Sky Cam" captured images of a sea of orange that overflowed onto the field and will forever be engraved in Oregon State lore.

A Thursday night prime-time game pitted the media's love child, No.1 ranked USC Trojans against the slow to start, but tough at home Oregon State Beavers.

A game that had a Vegas spread as big as 26 turned into a hang on and hope style finish that dragged fans through a myriad of emotions.

The Beavers entered the game with high hopes, but respected the visiting Trojans' defense that had given up only five points per game, as well as their explosively balanced offense that had averaged over 40 points per game.

If history is any indication, USC might consider paying Oregon and Oregon State to travel to LA every year. 

The Trojans have lost the last three match-ups in the Beaver state. The last two in Corvallis and last year in Eugene vs. the Ducks.

The story of the night was freshman phenom Jacquizz Rodgers.  The magician, as I now call him, disappeared behind the offensive line and reappeared five yards down field all night. 

Rodgers was a workhorse and scored twice on 37 carries, torching the Trojans for 186 yards. Jacquizz averaged 3.9 yards per carry against a defense that had been giving up a minuscule 1.9 the two games prior.

The offensive line played inspired and aggressive all night, opening holes for Quizz and bullying the seemingly overmatched USC D line.

OSU's ability to control the line of scrimmage opened up the play action pass where Lyle Moevao found success to the tune of 18-28 for 167 and a pair of TD's.

The Beavs were able to move the chains and sustain drives in key situations.  Moevao was given time to throw all night and found his check downs beautifully going 7-16 on third down.

Ball control is key to any teams bid for an upset, and Oregon State's 73 offensive plays to USC's 51 showed domination and kept the USC offense off the field and the defense on their heels.

What was more jaw dropping than Quizz's 186 yards on the ground, was OSU's rush defense that held the talented Trojan runningbacks to only 86 yards.

Joe McKnight seemed confused and out of sorts all night, fumbling once and searching for cutback lanes that were filled beautifully by pursuing orange jerseys.

After two Trojan-like scoring drives to open the second half, the Beaver defense took it upon themselves to finish strong, and they did so in tremendous fashion.

The Beaver D allowed USC to convert only two of 10 third downs.

Mark Sanchez was intercepted by Greg Laybourn late in the fourth quarter to seemingly seal the deal.  While USC fought back and got within six points, it was a case of too little, too late.

OSU entered the daunting match up with little or no hope from nation-wide prognosticators.  The Beavers played tough, smart, and more importantly TEAM football.

It goes to show, you can have all the talent in the world, but unless you're a cohesive unit, a group of individuals will not beat a team.

Oregon State improves to 2-2 on the season and evens out it's Pac-10 record at 1-1.  Next up is an equally tough road game against the Mountain West's No. 17 Utah Utes.

With the Beaver victory, OSU fans can breathe a sigh of relief for a brief moment.  While the win is ever so sweet, the season is young and the road remains littered with hurdles.

Here's to upsets in college football and the glorious celebrations that follow.

Hip-Hip Hooray!! Hip-Hip Hooray!!

Game Notes:

- First time ever a No. 1 team has lost on Thursday.

- Only OSU's second win versus a No. 1 ranked team. (USC 3-0 in 1967 "Giant Killers")

- OSU is now 5-2 at home against AP Top 25 teams since 2000.

- OSU has defeated the No. 3, No. 2, and No. 1 team in consecutive years since 2006.         (No. 3 USC in 2006, No. 2 California in 2007, and No. 1 USC in 2008)

- First quarter scoring at home for OSU improved to 146-41 since 2006.

- Jacquizz Rodgers holds the 16th best rushing performance in OSU history, and the        second best freshman mark behind Ken Simonton's 207 yards vs. Stanford in 1998.

Player Statistics:

Lyle Moevao - 18-28 for 167 and two TD's

Jacquizz Rodgers - 186 yards on 37 carries; two TD's

Receiving:

Sammie Stroughter - 3 for 42 (long 15)

James Rodgers - 6 for 36 Two TD's (long 14)

Shane Morales - 3 for 35 (long 22)

Jacquizz Rodgers - 2 for 27 (long 17)

Brady Camp - 2 for 18 (long 11)

Tackles/Int/Sack:

Greg Laybourn - 11 (4 solo) / INT

Keaton Kristick - 10 (4 solo) / 1 TFL / 1 SACK

Victor Butler - 5 / fumble recovery

Slade Norris - 4 (2 solo) / 1 TFL / 1 FF