Gesser on Mark Against Arizona

Jason Gesser became Washington State’s all-time leader in total offense, and the ninth-ranked Cougars came back in the second half to beat Arizona, 21-13, Saturday night at Tucson.

Gesser completed 20 of 36 passes for 275 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown throw to Devard Darling to put the Cougars ahead, 14-13, with 2:04 left in the third quarter.

Jermaine Green rushed for 119 yards in 29 carries. His tackle-breaking, 18-yard touchdown run with 7:37 remaining gave Washington State its final points.

The game ended with the Cougars on the Wildcats’ three.

Washington State (7-1, 4-0 in conference), which has trailed in five of its victories, plays conference co-leader Arizona State on Saturday at home.

Gesser broke Jack Thompson’s school record for total offense and moved past Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf into second place on the all-time passing list -- 228 yards behind Thompson’s 7,818.

Bobby Gill, whose previous long field goal was 26 yards, was successful from 47 and 42 yards for Arizona (3-5, 0-4). His 42-yarder, on a drive kept alive by two Washington State penalties on Arizona punts, gave the Wildcats a 13-8 lead with 4:54 left in the third quarter.

Arizona quarterback Jason Johnson fumbled the ball away twice, once for a safety and another time to set up a Washington State touchdown. He completed 22 of 46 passes for 224 yards, including a 27-yard scoring pass to Bobby Wade, but had two passes intercepted.

The Cougars sacked Johnson seven times. Wade, the Pac-10’s leading receiver, caught nine passes for 83 yards.

Johnson’s fumble was recovered by Washington State’s Isaac Brown at the Arizona 32 midway through the fourth quarter. Three plays later, Green shook off several tacklers on an 18-yard scoring run.

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Oregon State 24, California 13 -- Steven Jackson rushed for 239 yards, the most in his career, and three touchdowns at Corvallis, Ore., helping the Beavers (5-3, 1-3) end a three-game losing streak.

Jackson dominated the first half, scoring all three Beavers touchdowns’ to go along with 168 yards in 16 carries. Quarterback Derek Anderson continued to struggle, going eight of 24 for 80 yards with no touchdowns.

Kyle Boller was 27 of 51 for 284 yards, moving into third place on the Golden Bears’ all-time passing list with 7,281 yards.

Joe Igber led a punchless California running game with 33 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. The Bears (5-4, 2-3) had just 16 yards rushing.

After two lackluster three-and-out possessions to start the game, Oregon State started to click when Anderson converted on third and nine from his nine with a 15-yard pass to Kenny Farley.