CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) _ Ken Simonton rushed for 180 yards and four touchdowns, and Oregon State needed 543 yards of offense and a pair of big breaks on special teams to defeat Division I-AA Georgia Southern 48-41 Saturday.

Oregon State improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1967. The Beavers, who have the longest winning streak in the Pac-10 at four, need three more victories to end their NCAA-record string of 28 straight losing seasons.

Georgia Southern (2-1), the top-ranked team in I-AA, gave the Beavers all they could handle before falling to 0-12 against Division I-A programs.

The Eagles tied the game at 34-all on a 20-yard field goal by Chris Chambers with 8:50 to play.

Oregon State's Robert Prescott then returned the kickoff 61 yards to the Eagles' 37. Six plays later, Simonton scored his fourth touchdown from 3 yards out to make it 41-34 with 6:41 remaining.

Southern drove to its own 43 on the next possession, but had to punt on fourth and 6. The snap skipped through the legs of Chambers, the punter, and when he picked it up he fumbled after a hit by LaDairis Jackson at the 3. Darnell Robinson recovered and ran it in for a 48-34 lead.

Southern added a touchdown on a 1-yard run by reserve quarterback J.R. Revere with 1:3 left , and the Eagles got one last chance. After Oregon State punted, Revere moved his team to the Beavers' 20 with one second left. But he was hit on his last pass, and the ball fell incomplete as time ran out.

Adrian Peterson rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles, who won their first two games by a combined score of 131-14.

Georgia Southern got an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Bennie Cunningham to tie it at 14-all in the first quarter.

Simonton, who has 13 touchdowns in his last four games, had his fourth straight 100-yard game, the first Oregon State player to do that since Pete Pifer in 1965 and 1966.

Beavers quarterback Jonathan Smith was 15-of-25 for 272 yards.

Oregon State's Monjero Jones caught three passes for 119 yards and a 51-yard touchdown in the first quarter, but had just one more catch for 4 yards the rest of the game.