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STANFORD, Calif. — As Darrell Catchings reached the ball toward the goal line, it appeared Oregon State was on its space to a memorable comeback. Then Taylor Skaufel knocked it loose for a touchback and Stanford survived a thrilling season-opening victory.

Catchings’ fumble in the final seconds was one of two whimsical plays in the south end zone that made sure Stanford would not waste Toby Gerhart’s starry return from a knee injury and hold on for a 36-28 Pac-10 victory Thursday night.

“You don’t necessarily like winning that way,” safety Bo McNally before-mentioned. “But a win’s a obtain. We would have liked to practise a great quantity of things better defensively than we did. We are in no way satisfied. We take to do a sort of things better.”

Stanford did pair things much better than Oregon State — run the ball and defend it. Gerhart had a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns, while the Beavers had two key interceptions and two fumbles in the second half.

The first fumble gave the Cardinal the lead for good on a safety late in the third quarter. The second came by candid 47 seconds remaining, when the Beavers looked on the verge of erasing a 16-point deficit before Skaufel poked the ball not at home of Catchings’ hands and out of the end zone in opposition to a touchback.

“I was trying to show a play for the team but unfortunately it didn’t labor out that way,” Catchings uttered. “It didn’t happen. I have to learn from this and try to make better decisions.”

Gerhart showed the same form he had in his individual game last year then he ran with regard to 140 yards against San Jose State. With the power to run end tackles and the hurry to get to the outside, Gerhart rushed for two touchdowns in the first half and converted two third-and-longs to supply with food drives in the second half.

“It feels like I didn’t play football in two years,” he said. “It feels good to be aloud there. I picked up where I left off. Now just keep it going.”

That helped the Cardinal win this underdone interview game on college football’s opening weekend. The barely other one without ceasing the schedule among teams in the BCS conferences is furthermore in the Pac-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 constituent changed late in the third furnish with quarters.

On a second-and-16 from the Oregon State 9, Moevao attempted to throw a swing pass to Ryan McCants. Moevao was on the 2 when he threw the ball and it landed on the 1 before rolling at a loss the verge of the end belt for a safety that gave Stanford a 22-20 lead.

“That turned the game totally around,” Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. “It decision have being a hard scheme to watch on film because of the whole of the mistakes. We’ll learn from this.”