Oregon State's Reynolds closes career with win

HONOLULU - Rashaad Reynolds got to celebrate the end of his college football career with a lei around his neck, an MVP trophy and bragging rights over a possible future NFL player.

"I told him I had more touchdowns than he had," Reynolds said he told his teammate, Biletnikoff Award-winning receiver Brandin Cooks, after returning two fumbles for touchdowns, helping Oregon State beat Boise State, 38-23, in the Hawaii Bowl on Tuesday night.

Oregon State won six of its first seven games of the season. A 20-12 home loss to then-No. 8 Stanford started a five-game slide that came to an end when the Beavers (7-6) set several records in handing the Broncos their worst loss in two months.

Cooks said the win meant a lot for a squad that was trying to break out of a slump.

"To string along that many L's is definitely a burden for you and you just want to feel that feeling of a win again," Cooks said.

The Beavers didn't just win, they put the Broncos away quickly.

Cooks caught eight passes for 60 yards and a touchdown. He extended his Pac-12 single-season record to 128 receptions and broke the conference record for yards receiving with 1,730, passing Southern California's Marqise Lee.

Sean Mannion threw for 259 yards and a touchdown, giving him a Pac-12-record 4,662 yards passing for the season.

"When you win, you'd like to say it's a good ending - a good beginning for the upcoming year," Oregon State coach Mike Riley said.

Riley said stopping the skid was the biggest deal for his team.

"They've worked hard, they haven't lost their focus even though there's been some discouragement, they didn't let it stay with them," Riley said. "I loved how they've responded all year."

Oregon State kept Boise State (8-5) out of the end zone until the third quarter, well after the Beavers had opened a big lead.

Reynolds had his first fumble recovery about 12 minutes into the game when Scott Crichton stripped Boise State quarterback Grant Hedrick in the end zone. The ball popped forward to the 3-yard line, where Reynolds picked it up and ran it in.

Reynolds tacked on another fumble return in the second quarter. Troy Ware caught a 6-yard pass near the sideline for Boise State, but Larry Scott punched the ball out as Ware was falling to the ground. Reynolds picked it up and ran 70 yards to the end zone.

Matt Miller led Boise State with 11 catches for 206 yards and a touchdown, with most of the production coming after the game was decided. Miller, who set a school record with 88 catches this season, was the Broncos' MVP for the game.