Oregon State

Arizona forward Marcus Williams shrugged off his contribution after scoring a career-high 27 points in the 10th-ranked Wildcats' 83-72 victory over visiting Oregon State last night. "I was able to get in the right spot at the right time, and my teammates were able to find me," Williams said. Chase Budinger added 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Wildcats (13-2, 4-1 Pac-10) bounced back from an overtime defeat at Washington State on Saturday. Arizona is 9-0 at McKale Center.

The Penn State football team will host Oregon State next season in the first meeting between the schools, Penn State announced yesterday. Oregon State will visit Penn State's Beaver Stadium on Sept. 6. It replaces Arkansas State on the schedule. Oregon State is the only Pac-10 Conference football team Penn State has not faced. The Beavers are 8-4 this season under coach Mike Riley, finishing third in the Pac-10 standings with a 6-3 record. The Beavers won six of their final seven games, including a 38-31 overtime win over No. 17 Oregon.

Shawn Robinson became the first Pittsburgh player to return a punt for a touchdown in the school's 22 bowl appearances as the 24th-ranked Panthers beat Oregon State 38-13 in the Insight Bowl at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix last night. Brandon Miree rushed for 113 yards in 20 carries, including a 7-yard touchdown run, to help Pittsburgh to its first nine-win season in 20 years. The Panthers (9-4) broke a 10-10 tie with a pair of TDs in the third quarter. Tez Morris' interception set up the go-ahead touchdown on Rod Rutherford's 1-yard run, then Robinson broke a pair of tackles en route to his 66-yard punt return to make it 24-10 with 3:26 to go in the third quarter.

Dennis Erickson, who won two national titles at Miami but was fired after four disappointing seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, will be hired as the new coach at Oregon State today, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported. School officials refused to confirm Erickson's hiring. The newspaper reported that Erickson has agreed to take over at Oregon State for Mike Riley, who last week was named the new coach of the San Diego Chargers. Erickson was fired one day after the Seahawks ended their season 8-8. In four years, he had a record of 31-33 and no playoff appearances.

Daniel Turpen allowed five hits over eight innings and defending champion Oregon State beat UC Irvine, 7-1, in the College World Series last night in Omaha, Neb., ending the Anteaters' dramatic postseason run. The win sends the Beavers (47-18) into the best-of-three championship series starting Saturday. They will play the winner of tonight's Rice-North Carolina game for the title. Turpen (10-1) turned in the third straight strong performance by an Oregon State starter, not allowing a hit after the fourth inning.

Texas set a record with its 75th College World Series win last night, riding the strong pitching of Kyle McCulloch to a 5-0 victory over top-seeded Tulane. In its fourth straight and record 32nd appearance overall at the CWS, Texas passed Southern California's mark of 74 victories. The Longhorns, 2-0 in the CWS, will play tomorrow night at Rosenblatt Stadium against the winner of tonight's elimination game between Tulane and Baylor. Texas (53-16) scored two in the first off Tulane's top lefty, Brian Bogusevic, added two more in the fifth and another in the sixth, while collecting 12 hits.

Mike Riley got Oregon State headed back toward respectability, and now he'll try to do the same thing for the San Diego Chargers. Riley, 45, signed a guaranteed five-year contract yesterday, becoming the Chargers' fourth coach in four years. This is his first NFL job, and he inherits a team that hasn't had a winning record in three seasons. Riley was 8-14 in two seasons at Oregon State, which one of his predecessors called "a coach's graveyard. " The same might be said of the Chargers, who were 5-11 in 1998.

Coach Jim Boyle of St. Joseph's started the youngest lineup in the Hawks' basketball history last night, and it produced an 89-67 loss to Oregon State in the first round of the Far West Classic. The defending champion Beavers (5-3) rolled to a 14-2 lead in the first seven minutes at the Memorial Coliseum and were never headed in handing St. Joseph's its fifth straight loss after two season-opening victories. Eric Knox came off the bench for 17 of his game-high 25 points as Oregon State led by as many as 20 points in the first half and settled for a 44-30 advantage at the break.

Both teams employed spread offenses last night when Temple hosted Oregon State in a nonleague game at Franklin Field. The only one that was productive, however, belonged to the visitors. With Temple quarterback Mike McGann, a sophomore, obviously still trying to grasp what is a good throw and what is a bad one in his first year in the Owls' new system, Oregon State quarterback Derek Anderson made just enough plays to lead the Beavers to a 35-3 victory before a crowd of 20,162.

When Oregon State football coach Dennis Erickson was asked about the Beavers' having to take a 5 1/2-hour plane trip to reach Philadelphia for a game tonight against Temple at Franklin Field, he looked at the bright side. "It's a heck of a lot better than driving," said Erickson, who was to arrive last night with his team. Oregon State, a member of the Pacific Ten Conference, had previously only made one appearance in Philadelphia, on Dec. 15, 1962, when the Beavers defeated Villanova, 6-0, in the Liberty Bowl at Municipal Stadium.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - After all the losses, turmoil, and speculation about the future, Ohio State could cling to one last vestige of a joyous era: The Buckeyes had seven straight wins over their biggest rivals. Instead, Denard Robinson and the Michigan Wolverines snapped the streak, beating Ohio State, 40-34, on Saturday for their first win in the storied rivalry since 2003. Robinson accounted for five touchdowns as the No. 17 Spartans (10-2, 6-2 Big Ten) held back the Buckeyes (6-6, 3-5)

1. LOUISIANA STATE (11-0) def. Mississippi, 52-3 Next: Arkansas Friday 2. OKLAHOMA STATE (10-1) lost to Iowa St, 37-31, 2OT Next: vs. Oklahoma Dec. 3 3. ALABAMA (10-1) def. Ga. Southern, 45-21 Next: at Auburn Saturday 4. OREGON (9-2) lost to Southern Cal, 38-35 Next: vs. Oregon State Saturday 5. OKLAHOMA (8-2) lost to No. 25 Baylor, 45-38 Next: vs. Iowa State Saturday 6. ARKANSAS (10-1)

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Andrew Luck shook off the rain and the chill to throw for 206 yards and three touchdowns in No. 4 Stanford's 38-13 victory over Oregon State on Saturday. The victory was costly for the Cardinal, who lost senior receiver Chris Owusu to a concussion in the second quarter after a helmet-to-helmet collision with Beavers cornerback Jordan Poyer. Owusu was taken from the field by ambulance. Tests after the game did not show a concussion, but Owusu did strain his shoulder.

Here are the Top 15 teams in the Daily News' weekly college football rankings heading into the showdown Saturday between LSU and Alabama: 1. Louisiana State (8-0). Idle. Beat Alabama by three at home last year. Saturday: at Alabama. 2. Alabama (8-0). Idle. Beat LSU by nine at home in 2009. Saturday: vs. LSU. 3. Stanford (8-0). Beat Southern Cal, 56-48 (3 OT). Week off before hosting Oregon. Saturday: at Oregon State.

Coach Mike Stoops, brother of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, has been fired halfway through his eighth season at Arizona. Athletic director Greg Byrne announced Stoops' dismissal at a news conference Monday evening, two days after the Wildcats lost their fifth straight game, 37-27, at previously winless Oregon State. Arizona has lost 10 of its last 11 games. The lone victory was this season's opener over Northern Arizona, a Football Championship Subdivision school. Stoops had a 41-50 record with the Wildcats.

OMAHA, Neb. - Michael Roth pitched 7 innings on 3 days' rest, and South Carolina won its second straight national championship with a 5-2 victory last night that completed a two-game sweep over Florida in the College World Series finals. South Carolina (55-14) became the first team ever to go 10-0 in an NCAA Tournament and the first since Oregon State in 2007 to go unbeaten in a CWS. The Gamecocks' streaks of 16 NCAA Tournament wins and 11 straight in the CWS are both the longest all-time.