Washington State Finishes It Off

All week long, Washington State coaches impressed on their players a single objective.

“All we preached was: finish,” Coach Bill Doba said.

And the Cougars did just that as they forged a lead and expanded it in a 47-26 rout of No. 17 Colorado on Saturday at Boulder, Colo. The victory came a week after squandering a 19-0 lead in a 29-26 overtime loss to Notre Dame.

Sammy Moore caught a 74-yard touchdown pass and returned a kickoff 97 yards for another score as Washington State used big plays to down the Buffaloes, who contributed five turnovers.

The Cougars (2-1), who led 23-13 at halftime, scored 24 consecutive points in the first 6:39 of the third quarter to build a 47-13 lead. Two of those scores came off turnovers by Colorado (2-1).

Matt Kegel threw three touchdown passes for Washington State, including a 77-yarder to Scott Lunde, and Jason David returned an interception 41 yards for another touchdown.

“We just focused on finishing,” Kegel said of the third-quarter surge. “After the feeling we had at Notre Dame of letting it slip away in the third and fourth quarter, this time we wanted to hammer it down and get some points on the board.”

Colorado backup quarterback Erik Greenberg, replacing injured starter Joel Klatt, threw for three scores. Klatt sat out two series in the first half after bruising his throwing shoulder and departed for good after reinjuring the shoulder on a sack by linebacker Don Jackson early in the third quarter.

Oregon State 28, New Mexico State 16 -- Steven Jackson ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Beavers (2-1) over the Aggies (1-2) at Corvallis, Ore.

Jackson, the Pac-10’s leading rusher, also caught three passes for 15 yards for Oregon State, which came back from an early 13-0 deficit. Jackson, however, was hit hard with a little more than five minutes left and limped off the field. Trainers worked on his left knee and he did not return to the game.

Oregon 48, Arizona 10 -- Demetrius Williams caught three touchdown passes -- two from Kellen Clemens and one from Jason Fife -- as the Ducks (3-0, 1-0) handed the Wildcats (1-2, 0-1) their 12th consecutive confererence home loss at Tucson.

Fife threw for another score and ran for one, and the Ducks’ defense shut down the Wildcats, who have been outscored, 107-23, in consecutive home losses to Louisiana State and Oregon.

Embattled Arizona Coach John Mackovic fell to 0-8 in home Pac-10 games.