Oregon State has won seven consecutive games at Reser Stadium and 12 of its last 13 at home dating to the 2006 season, but Beavers coach Mike Riley isn't sure what the home-field advantage means this week. That's because OSU, which moved into The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday at No. 23, is playing California. The outcome might have a huge bearing on the Pacific-10 Conference race. OSU (6-3, 5-1 Pac-10) manages its own destiny and will play in its first Rose Bowl since the 1964 season if it wins out. Cal (6-3, 4-2) dropped out of the Top 25 after losing 17-3 to No. 6 USC, and the Golden Bears have gone from dreaming about the Rose Bowl to hoping they can crash the Holiday Bowl. But coach Jeff Tedford's team does have one thing going for it: a two-game winning streak at Reser Stadium. While the Beavers have been impressive at home in the last two-plus seasons, and have upset highly ranked USC teams twice in that span, they have lost badly to Cal in the last two meetings in Corvallis -- 49-7 in 2004 and 41-13 in 2006.
On the flip side, the Beavers have won four in a row in Berkeley, including a wild 31-28 victory last season that cost the Bears a chance to move up to No. 1 in the nation. Riley said Sunday he was talking about the unusual nature of the Cal-OSU series with his father, former OSU assistant coach Bud Riley, and told his dad, "I wish this game was in Berkeley." Of course, he wasn't serious. Or was he? "All of that stuff is just part of history," Riley said. "It's just going to be the same old thing, who plays the best."
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