(Editor's note: Oregon State sophomore running back Ken Simonton will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more information on the Beavers, visit the official OSU site.)

Oct. 6, 1999

My thumb is a little sore from the hit I took at the end of the first quarter at USC. The training staff has put a soft cast on it, but I don't anticipate missing any practice, and certainly not the game this week against Washington. There is no way I would miss this game. I can grip the ball just fine, and even if I take a hit or two this week, with the cast, it should be fine.

	Ken Simonton rushed for 1,028 yards as a redshirt freshman in 1998.

(Despite the thumb injury, Simonton still managed 127 yards on the ground and a fourth-quarter touchdown.)

We knew there were some things we could do on the ground against USC, if fact I don't think there is a team that can totally stop our running game. If we go out and execute our game plan we will be able to run the ball, it's all on our shoulders. I thought I was a step away a couple of times from breaking a long run, but USC has some terrific athletes and they were able to make a play. If we stay focused on our game plan we will be able to run the ball behind our big five (offensive line).

We might have been able to mount a big comeback last year in the same situation, thanks to our great defense, but this year we are more ready to handle the pressure. Everybody understands what their job is, and we know we can make something happen even if we are behind.

We can't worry about what happened last week. Some guys are upset, some have gotten over it. The main thing for this football team is focus on Washington. We know we shot ourselves in the foot last week, we didn't feel like we just went down there and got beat, we went down there and hurt ourselves by our play.

Losing two in a row would not be good for the morale of this team, it's important for us to bounce back and win a conference game. We also know it's important for us to extend our winning streak at home.

	THE FULL DOSE OF DIARIES
	UCLA's Danny Farmer: Record is small consolation
	Oregon's Reuben Droughns: Waiting to get back in the game
	Oklahoma's Bob Stoops: Forget Irish; bring on 'Horns
	Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton: Overcoming a stereotype
	Ole Miss' Todd Wade: Climbing to the top 25
	Wyoming's Jared Jarnagin: Defense was the key

One of the biggest reasons for us to win this game is for our fans. We have to win some games at home to build up pride with our fans and earn support.

It would be terrific for this program to knock off Washington. We have been talking about making this a tough place to play and getting our fans behind us, this would be a huge step toward achieving that goal. We had great crowd support the first two home games, but now this is the Pac-10, and we need to defend our house against teams like Washington.

I was here the last time Washington came to Corvallis, and they had as many if not more fans in our stadium, that shows us just how big their fan base is. We are trying to build a fan base like Washington has, and this is a big game in that process. We get excited for all of our conference games, but this one has a little more to it than it would if we were playing someone like Stanford or California.

Ever since I have been at Oregon State there hasn't been a team in this conference that was the big power. I respect all of our opponents, but I don't fear anyone. I remember Washington being dominant earlier this decade, especially with Napoleon Kauffman at running back.