One play never kills a team, but after a penalty nullified Oregon State's recovery of a fumbled UA punt return, the Beavers went just about comatose.

With Arizona up 19-7, the game was still numerically close. And there was still roughly 11 minutes left to play - enough time in OSU head coach Jerry Pettibone's opinion for his team to have a chance.

"That was the biggest play in the game," Pettibone said. "That was the obvious turning point. It knocked the wind out of our sails. Instead of us having the ball with momentum to make something happen, we were backed up five yards and had to give it back to them."

After a third-down incompletion, the Beavers were forced to punt from their own 7-yard line. Doug Stuckey got off a clean punt, and Rodney Williams fielded it at the OSU 47 and went right, did a spin move back to his left and got sandwiched, fumbling the ball to the Beavers. Amid all the celebration, a penalty flag went unnoticed. OSU was called for an illegal formation.

A new kick and, this time, an 11-yard return. The Wildcats had a first-and-10 at the 30-yard line. Seven plays later, they had paydirt in the end zone and the game was virtually over.

"They said that our left guard was off the line of scrimmage," Pettibone said. "Our guys in the box thought that he was on. That is the same punt formation we run every time. Usually you get a warning if one of your players is cheating back, but there was no warning."

Arizona's Chris McAlister intercepted OSU's David Moran on the Beavers' next possession. Chester Burnett intercepted another on the next Beaver possession at the Arizona 44. The Wildcats limited the Beavers to 46 yards of total offense from that point, wh ile the UA offense racked up 163.

"After that play, what momentum we had was gone," Pettibone said. "It was a hard to overcome."

Lost in the 26-point defeat was the play of OSU fullback Darron Kirkman, who rushed for a career-high 110 yards on nine carries. His 27-yard touchdown run was also his longest.

"They're big tough running backs," UA head coach Dick Tomey said. "That guy was romping, stomping though the defense."

Kirkman had runs of 27, 20, 19, 14 and 17 yards at a time. Coming into the game, Kirkman had 263 yards for the entire season.

"Maybe it will mean something next week," an openly frustrated Kirkman said. "Individual effort doesn't mean much when the team loses."

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