Multidimensional Beavers tough to stop for Huskies

Once upon a time, it figured to be so simple to defend the Oregon State Beavers this season, the team Washington will play today at 12:30 p.m. in Corvallis in a make-or-break game for Washington.

Which isn't to be confused with easy.

Trying to contain the Rodgers brothers — junior receiver James and sophomore running back Jacquizz — is never easy.

But heading into this season, teams at least thought there could be a singular focus to trying to stop Oregon State. The Beavers, after all, appeared to have an uncertain quarterback situation. Returning starter Lyle Moevao was battling a bum shoulder, and backup Sean Canfield was talented, but erratic, and ultimately unproven.

However, as the California Bears found out last week, it's no longer wise to just load the box on Jacquizz Rodgers and hope for the best.

Canfield turned that strategy to mush, completing 29 of 39 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns as the Beavers won easily. It was Oregon State's fifth win in its past six games.

And Washington defensive coordinator Nick Holt says the Beavers' trademark late-season surge is directly related to the improvement by Canfield.

"The QB is playing really good this year, and that's the main reason why they are harder to defend, because the quarterback is really on," he said.

The Beavers, in fact, lead the Pac-10 in passing offense — a position the Huskies held for a while early — at 279.9 per game. Three Oregon State receivers rank among the top 10 in the conference: James Rodgers with 66 catches, Jacquizz Rodgers with 58 and senior receiver Damola Adeniji with 39.

That should be a tough matchup today for a UW defense that ranks 111th in the nation in pass defense and 91st in sacks.

Canfield ranks as the leading passer in the Pac-10 at 264.6 yards per game, completing 69.6 percent of his passes (217 of 312 for 2,381 yards and 13 touchdowns against five interceptions).

And that has the Beavers again in the hunt for a Rose Bowl, which they missed by a game in 2008. The Beavers (4-2 Pac-10) will be heavily favored to win their next two — today and at Washington State next Saturday — while the rest of the contenders play each other.

For the Huskies, the game is something of a last stand. Washington is 3-6 after losing five of its past six games, and has to win out to get to the minimum 6-6 needed for a bowl game.

Interestingly, the Huskies were also 3-6 — and needing to win out to get to a bowl — the last time they played the Beavers in Corvallis. That was in 2007, and Oregon State won 29-23 as Washington quarterback Jake Locker was sent to a hospital with a neck injury after taking a hard, controversial shot to the head from Oregon State safety Al Afalava, now in the NFL with the Bears.

That game included four player ejections, including UW guard Ryan Tolar, then a freshman.

Oregon State easily won a rematch last year in Seattle, 34-13, the school-record fifth straight Beavers win over the Huskies. Washington, in fact, has lost 11 in a row to teams from the state of Oregon since last beating the Beavers in Corvallis in 2003.

Washington coach Steve Sarkisian, though, said the motivation is simply to win this game this week and not worry about the past or the future. The Huskies' current spiral included a devastating 24-23 loss last week at UCLA that wasn't decided until a Locker pass was intercepted with 54 seconds remaining.

It was the third game in the past five UW lost either in the final minute or overtime.

Sarkisian, however, said the Huskies responded with a good week of practice, and tight end Kavario Middleton said there is no loss of faith.

"We are still playing hard," he said. "All of our games are coming down to the wire, and every game seems to be magically different, a pick for us or a pick for them or something crazy. It hurts, definitely, but I feel like this team has kind of grown up this year. It's 'oh well, on to the next one.' It happened, we are moving on."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com