Oregon State beats Stanford, 35-14, to become bowl eligible

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Chance Nolan passed for 257 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for a score, leading Oregon State to a 35-14 win over Stanford on Saturday.

The victory makes Oregon State (6-4, 4-3 Pac-12) bowl eligible for the first time since 2013, and snapped an 11-game losing streak against the Cardinal.

“It’s been a long time coming, man,” Oregon State senior linebacker Andrzej Hughes-Murray said of becoming bowl eligible. “I’m happy for my guys and happy for coach (Jonathan) Smith. And happy for myself, too.”

Smith, who was hired in 2018 to coach at his alma mater, inherited a team that was coming off a 1-11 season.

“There’s no question this is big,” said Smith, who was the starting quarterback during Oregon State’s 2000 Fiesta Bowl season. “(Win) number six is big. I’m not going to dance around that. We’ve got a couple more games that can mean a whole lot.”

Nolan completed 19 of 25 passes, including a 67-yard touchdown to Trevon Bradford that increased the lead to 21-0 early in the third quarter.

Injuries have taken a toll on Stanford (3-7, 2-6), which has lost five games in a row for the first time under coach David Shaw.

Freshman Ari Patu struggled to get the Cardinal’s passing game going in his first career start, completing 7 of 14 for 51 yards with a touchdown and interception before leaving midway through the third quarter with an undisclosed injury. Stanford used three quarterbacks in the game.

“Better fight from our guys this week,” said Shaw, whose team was coming off a 52-7 loss to Utah. “We’re not just looking for better, we’re trying to win.”

Oregon State’s defense made strides after giving up a total of 76 points in its previous two games, losses at California and Colorado.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/college-football-sports-stanford-cardinal-football-trevon-bradford-david-shaw-13c5734e430a570c9be42a91b35a0d62