Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Brandon Miree ran for 109 yards and a score on 20 attempts and Shawn Robinson returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown to lead 24th-ranked Pittsburgh over Oregon State, 38-13, in the Insight Bowl at Bank One Ballpark.

Rod Rutherford completed 13-of-26 passes for 189 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions for the Panthers (9-4), who collected their first nine-win season since going 9-3 in 1982, the end of the Dan Marino era. Larry Fitzgerald caught five balls for 89 yards and a touchdown, as Pittsburgh avoided ending the season on a three-game skid.

The Panthers, who captured the Tangerine Bowl with a victory over NC State last season, won bowl games in consecutive years for the first time since the days of Jackie Sherrill, who led Pittsburgh to bowl wins in 1979, 1980 and 1981.

Derek Anderson was 21-of-44 for 318 yards with a touchdown for the Beavers (8-5), who played for the first time since defeating hated rival Oregon back on November 23. James Newson hauled in 10 balls for 165 yards and a score, as Oregon State played in its first bowl contest since beating Notre Dame in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl.

The leading rusher of the Pac-10, Steven Jackson, was limited to 34 yards on 19 carries and the Beavers finished the contest with only seven net yards rushing.

The game was knotted at 10-10 at the intermission, but the Panthers opened the third quarter with two touchdowns to go ahead 24-10 and they cruised to the victory.

Oregon State's offense took the field first in the second half, but on the sixth play of the drive, Anderson's pass was intercepted by Tez Morris at the Pittsburgh 20 and he ran it 57 yards to the Oregon State 23. On the first play of the Panthers' drive, Rutherford hit Fitzgerald with a 22-yard pass to the one, and on the following play, Rutherford decided to keep it himself and run it over the goal line.

Then with just 3:24 to play in the third, Robinson returned a punt 66 yards for a Pittsburgh score. Robinson, whose longest punt return was only 15 yards this season, tallied the first punt return for a touchdown in a bowl game in the history of the program.

Kirk Yliniemi trimmed the Pittsburgh margin to 24-13 with a 31-yard field goal with just 36 seconds to play in the third to complete a 10-play, 56-yard drive.

But that was the final points the Beavers tallied, as Miree scored from seven yards out with just 5:38 remaining in the game to seal the win for the Panthers. The scoring drive started at the Oregon State 44 after Anderson's pass on 4th-and-11 fell incomplete.

Tyler Palko capped the scoring on an eight-yard touchdown run for Pittsburgh with only 3:01 left.

The Panthers scored on the game's first possession courtesy of a beautiful catch by Fitzgerald. On the sixth play of the 69-yard drive, Rutherford threw a 40-yard touchdown pass down left sideline and Fitzgerald laid out and landed with the ball across the goal line.

But the Beavers responded on their first possession, knotting the game at 7-7 with 9:53 remaining in the first quarter. Newson capped a three-play, 72-yard drive on a 65-yard touchdown pass. Anderson hit Newson with the pass near midfield, where the team's primary wide receiver not only avoided two tackles, but also planted his forearm on the turf to keep his knee from hitting the ground and then sprinted down the sideline untouched for the score.

The only other two scores of a turnover-free first half came on two long field goals in the second quarter as the teams went into the intermission tied at 10-10. Yliniemi booted a 50-yarder with 7:57 to play in the second to put Oregon State ahead, before Pittsburgh's true freshman, David Abdul, knotted the game on a 45-yard kick as time expired in the half.

It was the first all-time meeting between the two teams.



Game Notes: There have been four punts returned for scores already in bowl games this season, compared to only one all of last year in bowl play...Syracuse defeated Kansas State in last year's Insight Bowl...Oregon State fell to 5-4 all-time in bowls, while Pittsburgh improved to 10-12...Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson fell to 4-1 all-time versus the Panthers...Pittsburgh played in its third straight bowl game, including a 37-29 loss to Iowa State in the 2000 Insight Bowl...Pittsburgh played its first Pac-10 opponent since hosting Washington State in the opener of the 1995 campaign...It was the most points ever posted by Pittsburgh in a bowl game...The Panthers won in Arizona for the first time since 1979 when they defeated Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl...Pittsburgh will finish in the top-25 for the first time since 1989...The Big East is now 2-0 in bowl games this season and 10-2 in bowls since the 2000 campaign.