Beavers’ Jackson Is a Showstopper

Steven Jackson tied a bowl game record with five touchdowns and Oregon State’s defense overwhelmed mistake-plagued New Mexico in a 55-14 victory Wednesday night at the Las Vegas Bowl.

Jackson, the leading rusher in the Pacific 10 Conference, ran for 149 yards in 28 carries and showed why he might give up his final season of eligibility and declare himself available for April’s NFL draft.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound back caught a 34-yard pass from Derek Anderson five minutes into the game and added touchdown runs of three, 11, six, and one yard.

Former NFL standout Barry Sanders scored five touchdowns for Oklahoma State against Wyoming in the 1988 Holiday Bowl, and Sheldon Canley of San Jose State had five against Central Michigan in the 1990 California Bowl.

The five touchdowns also are an Oregon State record.

Two of Jackson’s scores came in a 21-point second quarter by the Beavers (8-5) that started the rout and extended the Lobos’ bowl drought.

New Mexico (8-5) has not won a bowl game since 1961 and lost its third postseason game since 1997. It was the second consecutive defeat for New Mexico in the Las Vegas Bowl, having lost to UCLA, 27-13, last year.

The Lobos’ scores came on a 27-yard pass from Casey Kelly to Hank Baskett in the first quarter and Kole McKamey’s 17-yard pass to Dwight Counter in the fourth.

Unable to run or pass against Oregon State’s defense, the Lobos had only one first down in the first half and 21 total yards through the first three quarters. The bleak stats also included six yards rushing, seven first downs and 127 total yards.

New Mexico got its second first down on a 46-yard pass from receiver Baskett to Counter with just more than 10 minutes left.

New Mexico helped the rout by getting penalized for 103 yards.

Lobo sophomore tailback DonTrell Moore, who led the Mountain West Conference with 1,438 yards, finished with five yards in 11 carries. His second-quarter fumble at the New Mexico 15 led to Jackson’s third touchdown and second in a span of 1:39.

New Mexico had the fourth-best rushing defense in the country, but after gaining only 11 yards in the first quarter, Jackson found plenty of holes and scoring chances.

Anderson was equally impressive. He completed 21 of 32 passes for 322 yards, raising his season total to 4,058. The only other player in Pac-10 history to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season was Washington’s Cody Pickett, who had 4,458 yards last year.

Oregon State scored on its first two possessions, with Jackson catching a 34-yard screen pass from Anderson on a third-and-19 play and Kirk Yliniemi booting a 21-yard field goal. Only 18,031 attended the game.