CORVALLIS — Amazing what a win like that can do for the ol’ psyche, eh, Beaver Nation?

Oregon State used resilience, heart and come-through moments in the clutch to post a pick-me-up for the ages, a 41-38 victory over 25th-ranked Washington State on Saturday.

Everett Hayes’ 55-yard field goal with 20 seconds left put the capper on the win that snapped the beleaguered Beavers’ five-game losing streak and rewarded a sellout Reser Stadium crowd of 38,008.

“We have the best fans in the nation,” said redshirt junior quarterback Ben Gulbranson after leading his team to victory in its season home finale. “They are the best fan base out there. I am happy we could finish this one off for them and finish the season off right here in Reser.”

Pac-12 champions? Pac-2 champions? However you term it, Oregon State is now 5-6 and still bowl-eligible as it ends the regular season next Friday at Boise State.

The fans got their money’s worth. There were six lead changes and enough drama to film a soap opera.

“It was a roller coaster,” Gulbranson said afterward. “Felt like it took a whole year to play. Craziest game I’ve been a part of.”

There were plenty of heroes for the Beavers, but none greater than Hayes, the senior placekicker in his sixth year with the program. The game-winner by the Granite Bay, Calif., native was the second-longest of his career; he hit a 60-yarder against Colorado in 2021. But he missed some important field-goal tries, lost his placekicking job to Atticus Sappington in 2022 and was left to only kick off for most of two seasons.

Sappington transferred to Nike U. after last season, leaving the position to Hayes for his senior year. Hayes began 2024 making only one of his first four field-goal attempts, but since has been money, connecting on eight of last nine tries.

None were bigger than Saturday’s boot for the bounty. With the score tied at 38-38, Oregon State had taken the ball at the Washington State 49 after cornerback Jaden Robinson recovered Kyle Williams’ fumble with 1:49 remaining. The Beavers moved only to the Wazoo 37, setting up Hayes with a long, pressure-packed attempt on a dry but chilly night. Long snapper Jackson Robertson delivered the ball to holder Josh Green, and the 6-foot, 215-pound Hayes put it through with five yards to spare.

“I felt really confident going out there,” said Hayes, who also booted seven kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks Saturday (he is 47 for 51 this season). “I have been kicking well lately. I have a ton of confidence in Jackson and Josh to get the ball there. The line has been doing a good job.

“In those moments, you go back to your preparation and be confident that you have worked hard and that you are in the right place at the right time.”

Gulbranson had led the Beavers on a touchdown drive to bring them even at 38-38 with 2:45 remaining.

“When we tied it at 38, I saw the clock and I was like, all we have to do is get one stop,” Hayes said. “Get me in range and … I’ll make the kick. I’m just happy I got to finish up.”

When did Hayes know he had made it?

“Right off my foot,” he said. “I was smiling a little bit as the ball was still in the air. You kick a lot of balls during the season and in the offseason. You just know when you hit it right.”

Washington State came into the game 8-2; before a 38-35 upset loss at New Mexico last week, the Cougars had visions of making the CFP playoffs. They were still 12-point favorites over the Beavers, who came in 4-6 and off their worst performance of the season, a 28-0 whitewash at Air Force.

It was Senior Day, and 18 OSU players — including Gulbranson — went through pre-game ceremonies.

“Being honest, I was a little emotional on the opening kickoff,” Hayes said. “All the ups and downs have made me a better kicker and turned me into a better person. I have learned a lot about myself through my time here. I’m just thankful for every opportunity I’ve gotten.”

Hayes wasn’t the only one who was emotional.

“It means a lot to the seniors in the locker room,” Gulbranson said. “To go out like that and have that night — it’s really special, a night I’ll never forget.”

Coach Trent Bray evidently had his players mentally prepared. Perhaps he was playing off the comments earlier in the week by Wazoo coach Jake Dickert, who offered some greaseboard material with, “Oregon State is not our buddy. They would have left us as fast as we would have left them.”

“Coach Bray told us earlier in the week, ‘They don’t respect us, but when they come to Reser, they’re going to get their butts kicked,’ ” said senior offensive guard Josh Gray, who made his school-record 55th start on Saturday.

Bray had confidence his players would bounce back from the farce at Air Force.

“I say it every week — some guys probably thought I was full of s—t — but the guys come back to work after every game,” he said. “There has never been a point where I doubted their work ethic or buy-in to this thing. Tonight was a great showcase of that.”

Oregon State ruled the roost in all of the offensive categories, including first downs (25-20), total offense (484-384), time of possession (38:34 to 21:26) and total plays (79-51).

After Washington State tied the score at 24-24 in the third quarter, the Beavers had an epic nine-play, 91-yard drive to go back on top 31-24. The offense that had totaled 175 yards at Air Force was so good that punter Green never saw the field except to hold for Hayes’ placekicks.

The play-calling seemed more imaginative than in recent weeks. Offensive coordinator Ryan Gunderson used more motion than usual, and the Beavers employed freshman QB Gabarri Johnson in opportune moments. He carried six times for 47 yards, including a pretty 15-yard scamper down the left sideline for the game’s first touchdown.

“Gunderson and his staff did a great job of narrowing things down,” Bray observed. “It was, ‘What do we do well; how can we use guys?’ What we did with Gabarri and how we used his legs to help us move the ball was big. Less is more. That’s what we found tonight.”

Anthony Hankerson rushed for 83 tough yards on 23 carries and the Beavers totaled 170 on the ground. Trent Walker had another huge game, hauling in a career-high 12 passes for 136 yards. That gives the junior from Beaverton High 77 receptions for the season, moving him into 10th place on the school’s single-season list.

Gulbranson — who missed the Air Force game with what he revealed after Saturday’s game as a concussion — was 10 for 10 passing in the first half, completed his first 11 attempts and finished 23 for 34 for 294 yards and two touchdowns.

“Ben’s leadership overall has been big for us,” said senior tight end Jermaine Terry, who caught five passes for 92 yards, including one for 43 yards and a TD in the third quarter. “Even when he is not the starter, he has been a great leader. The way he attacks his studies as far as the playbook, but also in school — he has two degrees in four years — that’s crazy. He is a great player and a phenomenal human being. When times are tough, we end up leaning on him.”

But Gulbranson also served up two costly interceptions, including a 29-yard pick-six by Buddah Al-Uqdah that gave the Cougars a 38-31 lead with 11:19 to play.

Gulbranson gathered himself, taking the Beavers on a grinding 16-play, 75-yard touchdown march, culminating with a third-down, four-yard pass play to Darrius Clemons to tie it at 38-38 with 2:45 remaining. Gulbranson connected with Jeremiah Noga for 15 yards on fourth-and-eight from the Wazoo 20 to keep the drive alive.

“Just had to flush it and move on to the next one,” Gulbranson said. “I’m proud of the way I fought back after that one.”

For the game, the Beavers were 7 for 15 on third down, 4 for 4 on fourth down. The last one came when Gulbranson hit Walker for seven yards on fourth-and-six from the WSU 45 with 54 seconds on the clock. The Beavers had no timeouts left, but the Cougars did them a favor as Bray was pondering whether to punt or go for it.

“I’m glad they called timeout there to give me more time to think about it,” he said. The fourth-down calls “were situations between analytics, the way the game was going, gut feeling — all those things led to those decisions.”

Four plays later, Hayes delivered the kick that inspired delirium on the winning side. After the Cougars tried a Cal/Stanford band lateral play that ended with the Beavers recovering a fumble at the Wazoo 41, OSU students rushed the field and a pre-Thanksgiving celebration was on.

“It’s big for the program, for our players,” Bray said. “To pull it out is huge for all the guys in the locker room, especially the ones moving forward.”

“We were due for a win,” Terry said. “It was time to turn the page. I just knew it was going to happen, to be honest.”

Washington State’s dangerous QB, sophomore John Mateer, came into the game with 2,707 yards and 26 touchdowns passing and 695 yards and 12 TDs rushing. Mateer

threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 75 yards and two scores. But Oregon State’s defense kept an offense that came in averaging 38.9 points per game mostly in check. The Beaver D bent some but didn’t break, giving the offense just enough room to win.

“That’s an offense that has scored on everybody, and our guys had some big stops at crucial moments,” Bray said. “I am very happy with how they fought.”

What stands between Oregon State and a bowl-eligible sixth win is a road date with 12th-ranked Boise State, 10-1 after a narrow 17-13 win over 2-9 Wyoming on Saturday. Before that was a 42-21 victory over San Jose State in which the Broncos — who now can all but clinch a berth in the CFP playoffs with a win over OSU — trailed 21-14 in the third quarter.

“We have given ourselves the opportunity with the last game to go to the postseason, which is where everyone wants to be,” Bray said. “We have another great team to face, but it’s a good thing and a motivating thing.”

The guess here is it will be the swan song for Gulbranson, who has a year of eligibility remaining but is looking ahead to a start to medical school. Asked if he will be back in a Beaver uniform Saturday, he said, “I gotta talk with my family. I’m not too focused on that. I’m focused on Boise next week.”

If Saturday’s performance was Gulbranson’s finale at Reser, it was a heck of a way to go out.

“That’s going to be one of the games I remember the most about my time here,” Gray said. “The guys killed it. Great team win. We just gotta do it one more time.”

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