It came down to the wire, but the Cardinal managed to preserve its first victory of the season at home against Oregon State, as a key turnover in the red zone gave Stanford a 36-28 victory in its season opener.

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Jeff Keacher.

Stanford's Bo McNally celebrates a touchdown after an interception during second-half action against Oregon State at Stanford on August 28.

Sophomore safety Taylor Skaufel forced the deciding fumble as Beavers receiver Darrell Catchings dove with arms outstretched for the goal line near the sideline. The loose ball rolled into the endzone and out of bounds, resulting in a touchback for the Cardinal with just 47 seconds remaining, effectively sealing the win for Stanford.

"He was just trying to make a play to win," junior safety Bo McNally said. "I was running from the side and I saw [Catchings] kind of dive and put the ball out there and you can’t do that. It’s kind of a cardinal sin."

The Cardinal looked to have decided the outcome much earlier, as momentum swung heavily in its favor in the late third and early fourth quarters.

A backwards pass from Oregon State quarterback Lyle Moevao sailed above and behind the reach of his intended receiver and out of the endzone, resulting in a safety to break a 20-20 tie, just before the end of the third quarter. The OSU gaffe was to prove a turning point in the following minutes.

Stanford followed up the safety with a three-minute, 65-yard drive capped by junior quarterback Tavita Pritchard’s 15-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Anthony Kimble. The Cardinal scored again with 9:36 remaining in the fourth quarter to make the score 36-20, as McNally picked off a Moevao pass and ran it back 34 yards for the touchdown.

"That was a smooth interception, man," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said. "He had a lock on it, made a quick move, and didn’t look back, took it right into the end zone and that was huge."

With less than 10 minutes left of play and a 16-point lead, it looked as if the victory would be a relatively easy one for the Cardinal, but Oregon State rallied to keep the outcome in doubt into the game’s final minute.

Victimizing a Stanford secondary that had trouble defending the underneath routes all night long, Moevao orchestrated a Beavers aerial assault 97 yards for a touchdown and two-point conversion on his second chance following McNally’s interception. The score brought Oregon State to within eight at 36-28, with three minutes remaining.

After an ineffective Stanford possession, OSU had the ball again and looked to be on the way to a score that would have put it just a two-point conversion away from tying the score. Catchings’ fumble abruptly quashed the Beavers’ momentum, though, and handed the game to the Cardinal.

Prior to the late-game dramatics, Stanford’s highlights had been dominated by the return of junior running back Toby Gerhart, who finished with 147 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries - an average of nearly eight yards per attempt. His total included a 46-yard romp for a touchdown, in which Gerhart initially looked to be stopped at the line but bounced away from an intended tackler and sprinted past another down the right sideline to put the Cardinal on top, 17-10, in the second quarter.

The numbers were reminiscent of Gerhart’s game against San Jose State on Sept. 15 last year, when he ran for 140 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries and displayed a similar blend of power and speed. Gerhart left that game with a knee injury that sidelined him for the rest of the 2007 season, but was in fine form again against the Beavers, showing no ill effects after missing nearly a full year of action.

The Cardinal displayed an increased efficiency through the air and in the red zone, both of which were problem areas for the offense in 2007. Pritchard threw for just 91 yards but was 10-17 with a touchdown and no interceptions as Stanford’s ground attack dominated the day with 210 yards. In part due to that potent rushing attack, Stanford was 2-2 in opportunities from inside 20 yards.

The Cardinal also won the turnover battle, 3-0, notching a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery. But OSU put up a staggering 404 passing yards and collected three touchdowns through the air, a sobering reminder of how far a young Stanford secondary will have to come to compete in the Pac-10 this season.

Oregon State finished 9-4 last season (6-3 Pac-10) including an Emerald Bowl victory over Maryland and a 23-6 defeat of Stanford at the Beavers’ homecoming.

"I’m very excited for our team," Harbaugh said following the win. "Oregon State’s going to win a lot of games in the Pac-10 this year. They are historically a team that really catches their stride after about the fifth game, so I think that really we got them at a good time, playing them the first game at our place; that was very fortunate for us. And the players deserve all the credit."

The Cardinal last won its opening game in 2005, when it posted a narrow 41-38 win over Navy.

Next up for the Cardinal is a matchup with Arizona State in Tempe next Saturday at 7 p.m. After a subsequent road game against TCU, Stanford will return home to take on San Jose State at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20.