STANFORD, Calif. — As Darrell Catchings reached the ball toward the goal line, it appeared Oregon State was on its way to a memorable comeback. Then Taylor Skaufel knocked it loose for a touchback and Stanford survived a thrilling season-opening victory.

Catchings' fumble in the final seconds was one of two bizarre plays in the south end zone that made sure Stanford would not waste Toby Gerhart's stellar return from a knee injury and hold on for a 36-28 Pac-10 victory last night.

"You don't necessarily like winning that way," safety Bo McNally said. "But a win's a win. We would have liked to do a lot of things better defensively than we did. We are in no way satisfied. We have to do a lot of things better."

Stanford did two things much better than Oregon State — run the ball and protect it. Gerhart had a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns, while the Beavers had two key interceptions and two fumbles in the second half.

The first fumble gave the Cardinal the lead for good on a safety late in the third quarter. The second came with just 47 seconds remaining, when the Beavers looked on the verge of erasing a 16-point deficit before Skaufel poked the ball out of Catchings' hands and out of the end zone for a touchback.

"I was trying to make a play for the team but unfortunately it didn't work out that way," Catchings said. "It didn't happen. I have to learn from this and try to make better decisions."

With Gerhart playing only one game last year, the Cardinal struggled to run the ball. That wasn't the case last night.

"It feels like I didn't play football in two years," he said. "It feels good to be out there. I picked up where I left off. Now just keep it going."

That helped the Cardinal win this rare conference game on college football's opening weekend. The only other one on the schedule among teams in the BCS conferences is also in the Pac-10, when Washington visits Oregon on Saturday.

Hawai'i plays at Oregon State on Sept. 13.

WEBER STATE 62, MONTANA WESTERN 6

OGDEN, Utah — Trevyn Smith ran for four touchdowns as the Wildcats opened the season with 535 yards of offense in a win over the Bulldogs. Defensive lineman Kevin Linehan returned a fumble 96 yards for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter for the Wildcats, who held the Bulldogs to one touchdown. Smith scored on runs of 14, 8 and 2 yards as the Wildcats built up a 35-6 halftime lead.

Weber State plays Hawai'i at Aloha Stadium on Sept. 6.

CINCINNATI 40, EASTERN KENTUCKY 7

CINCINNATI — Quarterback Dustin Grutza threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Bearcats (1-0) beat the Colonels (0-1). Grutza set a career high with his three touchdown passes in the first half. Grutza was 21-of-28 for a career-high 296 yards.

Cincinnati will play Hawai'i at Aloha Stadium on Dec. 6.