STANFORD -- Toby Gerhart ran for a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns in his first game back from a knee injury, and Stanford took advantage of two bizarre fumbles in the end zone to beat Oregon State 36-28 in the season opener Thursday night.
The first fumble gave the Cardinal the lead for good on a safety late in the third quarter. The second came with just 47 seconds remaining, when the Beavers' Darrell Catchings tried to stretch the ball over the goal line before Taylor Skaufel knocked it loose and the ball rolled out of the end zone for a touchback.
Gerhart made a strong return from the injury that forced him to miss all but one game a year ago. With Gerhart on the sideline, the Cardinal often struggled to run the ball, especially in a 23-6 loss at Oregon State in which it was held to minus-eight yards on the ground.
But a healthy backfield made all the difference. Gerhart showed the same form he had in his one game last year when he ran for 140 yards against San Jose State. With the power to run through tackles and the speed to get to the outside, Gerhart ran for two touchdowns in the first half and converted a couple of third-and-longs to sustain drives in the second half.
That helped the Cardinal win this rare conference game on college football's opening weekend. The only other one on the schedule among teams in the Bowl Championship Series conferences is also in the Pacific-10, when Washington visits Oregon on Saturday.
Quarterback Lyle Moevao and the Beavers effectively attacked Stanford's defense on the perimeter for much of the game with short passes and end-arounds. But it was on one of those plays that the momentum changed late in the third quarter.
On a second and 16 from the Oregon State 9, Moevao attempted to throw a swing pass to Ryan McCants against a blitz. Moevao was on the 2 when he threw, and the ball landed on the 1 before rolling out of the side of the end zone. The official immediately signaled the play was a lateral and ruled it a safety, giving Stanford a 22-20 lead.
Stanford took the ensuing free kick and scored again on the first play of the fourth quarter when Anthony Kimble took a dumpoff from Tavita Pritchard and ran it in for a 15-yard touchdown.
Pritchard, who won a three-man race for the Cardinal's starting quarterback job, completed 10 of 17 passes for 91 yards and the touchdown in the turnover-free performance.
Moevao was done in by turnovers in the second half. After the safety, he threw an interception on a tipped pass that thwarted a drive deep in Stanford territory. On the next drive, Moevao was intercepted again, and Bo McNally took it back 34 yards for a score that made it 36-20. Moevao finished 33 of 53 for 388 yards and three touchdowns.
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