CORVALLIS —

As resurrections go, this one was a doozy.

Shame that so many Oregon State football fans missed it, at least judging by an announced crowd of 40,525, many of whom looked conspicuously like empty seats.

No matter.

By the end of a chilly Saturday night nearing midnight, it seemed nearly every of those fans who did show up were celebrating on the field at Reser Stadium.

Oregon State shocked Arizona State, 35-27, popping the No. 7 Sun Devils’ national championship balloon. And in doing so the Beavers took an almost inconceivable giant step toward salvaging a season that seemed so lost just a week ago.

“For the fans to even be there after what we have done the past couple of weeks and that just tells you the support from Beaver Nation,” said Terron Ward, who ran for 156 yards. “With them storming the field it was an exciting feeling.”

Time to put away the pitchforks, folks.

The effort from the start Saturday night was there for the Beavers. And Oregon State’s defense looked a whole lot like the tough, senior-laden unit it thought it had to start the season.

Want evidence? It came when senior linebacker Michael Doctor picked off Arizona State quarterback Taylor Kelly and raced 35 yards for a touchdown to all but put away the Sun Devils.

Mike Riley and his coaching staff have understandably been under fire after four excruciating losses. But somehow they kept this team together enough to pull off a dramatic upset, doing so by correcting the fourth-quarter meltdowns of recent weeks.

Doubtful many believed the Beavers would do this. Even as Oregon State hung around against the Sun Devils, sixth in the College Football Playoff rankings, it seemed all too obvious that the Beavs would come up short.

Shows you what we know.

“It’s great to see us just cut loose and play football,” Riley said. “It was hard, it was good, I really appreciate how our team responded.”

With less than 11 minutes left in the game, Sean Mannion received just enough protection to beat Arizona State’s blitz with a bomb down the left sideline to Jordan Villamin for a 67-yard touchdown.

Mannion, who completed 19 of 33 passes for 251 yards and two scores, was a contrast all night: At his turnover-prone worst in the first half, and at his big-armed best in the second half.

Oregon State closed the deficit to 24-21 when Mannion, well-protected again on a blitz, connected with an open Victor Bolden late in the third quarter.

Fortunes can change on such halves, but this was no miracle comeback. Oregon State showed life early.

Early on the tackling was crisp. The running game was sound. It was hard to believe this was the same team that allowed Washington State to celebrate a win on this very field just a week ago.

The Beavers’ defense allowed just one first down in the Sun Devils’ first three possessions.

“We got together as a D, as seniors, and said why not us, why not?” said linebacker D.J. Alexander. “We have too many seniors on this team to go out with another loss.”

And Oregon State’s offense answered against one of the Pac-12’s best defenses with a running game that had seemed extinct.

First, it was Storm Woods with a 78-yard touchdown run up the middle, untouched by an ASU defensive player. Then Terron Ward hit paydirt on a 66-yard run for a 14-3 Beaver lead just 10 minutes into the game.

An Oregon State team that had averaged less than 109 yards per game so far this season tallied 183 yards in the first quarter along on just five carries.

The optimism quickly dimmed during a disastrous second-quarter stretch for OSU that ended when Marcus Hardison came around the left edge of the porous Beaver offensive line to crush Mannion on his blind side and force a fumble. Antonio Longino scooped up the loose ball on the 36 and strolled in for the score to take a 24-14 halftime lead.

But the Beavers kept fighting back. That is a sign of a team not ready to quit, even if it had every reason to do so.

Even the OSU fans most distressed over what has transpired this season — the opportunities missed, the unforced errors, the puzzling play calls — have to at least acknowledge that this was like steering the Titanic away from the iceberg.

And that is no easy task.

“I am really happy for our players,” Riley said. “They have competed well and been ahead three times in the fourth quarter in the last month and haven’t won. It was a great reward for them to finish and win.”

When Alexander blew through the line for the game-clinching sack in the final moments, the Beaver fans — the ones who had stuck around — made a roar one could expect to hear from a crowd twice its size.

That kind of noise has been rare in Corvallis the last few years.

But for a team that had failed so many times this year, it was just the sound it needed to hear most.

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, zhall@bendbulletin.com.