Inconsistent Oregon State Meets Bruins : UCLA: Beavers were good enough to beat Arizona and give Nebraska a battle.

If UCLA Coach Terry Donahue seems wary of Oregon State, the Bruins’ opponent today at the Rose Bowl, it’s understandable.

Come again, one might say. Is this a joke?

The Beavers are 1-6 overall and 1-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference. They have been beaten by Montana, Kansas and Nevada Las Vegas--and that was the soft part of their schedule.

Yet, their one victory was a formidable achievement: They beat Arizona, 35-21, on Oct. 13 at Corvallis, Ore., and it wasn’t a fluke, either. To put it in perspective, the Wildcats have already defeated UCLA and USC this season.

Moreover, Oregon State extended Nebraska, trailing only 10-7 in the fourth quarter before losing, 31-7, on Sept. 29 at Lincoln, Neb.

The Beavers are baffling. After beating Arizona, they lost to Washington State, 55-24, at home.

No one is more baffled than Coach Dave Kragthorpe, who has struggled to bring respectability to a football program that has been down for more than 20 years.

Yet, there was a glimmer of hope when the Beavers won four games in each of the 1988 and 1989 seasons. That’s almost a major breakthrough considering that Oregon State had averaged only 1.6 wins through 16 previous seasons.

“It’s a confusing season for us.” Kragthorpe said. “We’re not an outstanding team by any stretch of the imagination. But we’re certainly somewhere between the way we played against Arizona and the way we played against Washington State.”

The losses to Montana, Kansas and UNLV still puzzle Kragthorpe.

“Those were must wins for us if we were to have any kind of a season,” he said. “And the way we played against Washington State is unexplainable.”

Kragthorpe, who was the offensive coordinator at Brigham Young for 10 years, is in his sixth season at Oregon State, the longest tenure there since Dee Andros was there from 1965 through ’75.

“We figured that we would be 3-4 now, and that’s respectable for us,” he said. “We lost some good players, but we had some good players returning. I thought we would be a little more successful because we have a favorable schedule.”

Thirteen of Kragthorpe’s first 22 players are freshmen or sophomores. That allotment is not by choice. “We don’t have a strong base of upperclassmen,” he said.

So, the struggle continues in Corvallis, and even Kragthorpe says he wasn’t aware of the magnitude of his task when he became the Beavers’ coach.

“When you’re down and fighting from the lower echelon in this league, every game you win is a major upset,” he said.

Recruiting is an ongoing problem for Oregon State. “It’s difficult from the standpoint that we don’t have any population base in our area,” Kragthorpe said, adding that he is recruiting against the University of Oregon for the high school talent in the state as well as other Pac-10 schools.

“So it’s imperative we go out of state, and there again we’re up against the same competition from Pac-10 schools.”

Kragthorpe has had to rely on junior college transfers so he will have the necessary numbers to compete.

Injuries have also weakened the Beavers. Jason Kent, the team’s best wide receiver, didn’t recover sufficiently from a broken leg suffered late last season against Oregon. And the Beavers lost nose tackle Esera Tuaolo for the first three games because of a knee injury. Tuaolo, a 6-foot-3, 262-pound senior who grew up in Honolulu, was voted the outstanding defensive lineman in the Pac-10 last season.

Oregon State is also playing without its No. 1 quarterback, Matt Booher, who missed the Arizona and Washington State games because of a sprained left thumb and a hairline fracture of a bone in his left foot.

His status is questionable today. Fred Schweer Jr., a redshirt freshman from Woodbridge High in Irvine, has performed more than adequately as a replacement. He led the Beavers to the upset victory over Arizona.

Bruin Notes

Injury report: UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said offensive guard Vaughn Parker (ankle injury) and defensive end Mike Chalenski (shoulder injury) are expected to play today. So is defensive tackle Brian Kelly, who had been expected to miss two games because of an ankle injury. On the questionable list are outside linebackers Arnold Ale and Randy Cole, with ankle and groin injuries, respectively.