TUCSON, Ariz. — The Oregon State Beavers have a new all-time wins leader.
Quarterback Sean Mannion found Connor Hamlett for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:09 to play and OSU won its sixth straight game at the Arizona Wildcats, 38-35, to put head coach Mike Riley atop the school’s all-time wins list with 75 in front of 44,153 fans at Arizona Stadium.
Mannion threw for a career-high 433 yards — 166 of which went to Markus Wheaton — and Storm Woods added 161 yards on the ground.
After playing two ranked teams to start the season for the first time in school history, Oregon State continued its winning ways by mounting 610 yards of total offense and keeping Arizona’s offense at bay enough to overcome allowing 21 straight points to erase a 17-point lead.
Arizona quarterback Matt Scott threw for a career-high 403 yards and three scores while Wildcats running back Ka’Deem Carey gashed the Beavers for 115 yards on 17 carries — the most yards gained on the ground by a player against OSU this season.
But Scott was intercepted twice — the second one coming with Arizona driving to attempt to tie the game in the final minute.
Twelve different players had gains of 20 or more yards in the game as both teams combined for 49 second-half points after struggling to find their footing at the start of the game.
Both teams traded punts on their first two possessions, but things heated up from there — at least for Oregon State.
The Beavers struck first on a three-yard pass from Mannion to Wheaton to cap a nine-play, 83-yard drive that was extended by a running-into-the-kicker call on a field goal that OSU kicker Trevor Romaine pushed to the right.
OSU jumped out to a 10-0 lead after Romaine drilled a 31-yard field goal on the Beavers’ next possession. Arizona looked to be in position to answer OSU’s scores, but the Wildcats’ kicking woes continued when John Bonano missed a 40-yard field goal — leaving Arizona scoreless on its past seven red-zone trips.
Then the Oregon State offense opened up.
The Beavers used back-to-back plays of 20-plus yards to gash the Arizona defense before Tyler Anderson scored from one yard out to put OSU up 17-0.
Arizona answered with a nine-play, 85-yard scoring drive on which Scott completed five passes for 76 yards. Carey scored on a three-yard run to end the Wildcats’ streak of five straight scoreless quarters in Pac-12 play.
OSU drove to the Arizona 5-yard line on its final possession of the half before Romaine missed a 35-yard field-goal try.
Mannion showed no ill effects of a sore throwing arm that limited him in practice throughout the week.
He completed 15 of his 27 first-half pass attempts for 278 yards.
NOTES: Entering Saturday, Oregon State’s past four matchups with Arizona had been decided by a combined 19 points. … Wheaton has caught a pass in 26 straight games, the third-longest active streak in the Pac-12. … Arizona plays eight home games this season for the first time since 1988. … Arizona played in copper-colored helmets in homage to the state’s copper mining history.