PHOTO COURTESY THE DAILY BAROMETER (OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY) Oregon State running back Stephen Jackson stiffarms a Boise State defender earlier this season. Jackson enters this weekend's game against Arizona ranked fourth in the nation in rushing yards and leading the Pac-10 in rushing.

Last week, the Pacific 10 Conference's No. 2 rusher, Cal's Adimchinobe Echemandu, ran for more than 200 yards against the Wildcats. Some hard running combined with poor Arizona tackling led to a big day for the senior running back.

Things don't look to get any easier for the Wildcats this week.

Arizona travels to Corvallis to take on Oregon State and the Pac-10's top rusher, junior Steven Jackson.

"This week we are going to see the best back in the Pac-10," UA senior linebacker Matt Molina said. "He's the biggest back we have faced all year and he'll be hitting the holes hard."

Jackson is currently No. 4 in the nation in yards per game at 126.4 a contest and has been named a candidate for the annual Doak Walker Award, given out to the nation's top running back.

At 6-foot-3 and 233 pounds, Jackson is an imposing back who will run right at a defense, but according to Arizona interim head coach Mike Hankwitz, you can't let Jackson's size fool you, because he is also quick and agile.

"He is a workhorse-type back," Hankwitz said. "But he's got speed to run outside, too. He's strong inside and has the speed to run outside."

In just the Beavers' 8th game, Jackson went over the 1,000-yard mark last week against Washington State with an 85-yard performance. He is currently at 1,011 yards on the season with nine rushing touchdowns.

Jackson has not only put up big numbers this season, like his 239-yard effort against Cal, but has been consistently effective over his three-year career.

Jackson has gone over the 100-yard mark on 16 occasions.

Besides being able to run the ball, Jackson has also been a key contributor in the passing game. He is second on the team in receptions with 24, and has 277 yards and one score on the year.

"He's really got the whole package as a running back," Hankwitz said.

After a record-breaking year last season, in which he led the Pac-10 in rushing yards, Jackson was vaulted to the top of this year's Heisman Trophy watch list. He ran for a school-best 1,690 yards and 1,855 all-purpose yards.

Through the Beavers' first six games, Jackson seemed to be on track as a leading candidate for national player of the year, but has hit somewhat of a snag the last couple weeks. Both Washington and Washington State have held Jackson under 100 yards in consecutive weeks.

"It has nothing to do with what he's doing," Oregon State head coach Mike Riley said. "We played two pretty good teams the last two weeks. We didn't play well against Washington; against Washington State, that's pretty much what we expected."