Ranking Pac-10 power Washington defeated the Beavers by "only" three points Saturday night, surviving a 46-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds, and no Husky walked away from the 33-30 victory wondering what the heck had gone wrong.

Huskies' Justin Robbins snatches a touchdown pass in the first quarter.(AP)

The Huskies weren't merely relieved. They were jubilant.

"The team was certainly fired up and excited from the victory, but there wasn't much left in the tanks," said Washington coach Rick Neuheisel. "Everyone is tired, which is probably attributed to our guys using everything they had."

The 23rd-ranked Beavers, who entered the game with their first national ranking in 31 years, backed up their blasting of USC with a performance that suggests they will be difficult to beat anywhere, anytime, by anyone.

"They're going to win a lot more games -- a lot more games," said Neuheisel.

"That's a fast team, especially on defense. And those receivers can run with anybody."

While the Beavers were proving their worthiness, the Huskies narrowly avoided Pac-10 death, because no team in league history has ever won the title after starting 0-2 in conference play. As it is, Washington, which lost last week at Oregon, emerged stronger from victory, armed with a new weapon for the rest of the conference season.

The Huskies have desperately been seeking a complement to quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo. They are speed-impaired at receiver and sophomore tailback Paul Arnold hasn't quite been the home-run hitter that the team had hoped he would be (although he was very good Saturday night).

So Neuheisel, who pulls down a cool million a year and presumably knows a thing or two about luxury automobiles, decided to test drive Alexis.

That would be Rich Alexis. True freshman. Running back. Coral Springs, Fla.

Neuheisel gave Alexis his most significant playing time of the season, and Alexis quickly hit top speed, providing a spark for the 13th-ranked Huskies, who re-found their entire running game in the process.

Quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo was grateful. He responded with one of his better passing games -- 20 of 32 for 223 yards.

When you give Marques a running game, he's tough," Neuheisel said. "You give that defense more to think about."

Alexis -- who flashed his speed and his potential with a 50-yard scoring burst against Miami last month -- jumped up to the backup role Saturday night. And he played like a first-stringer, even out-playing Oregon State's Ken Simonton, who was averaging 177 yards per game.

When Washington needed to keep pace in the first half, Alexis was there. When the Huskies need a go-ahead score in the fourth quarter against a team that would not go away -- Alexis was there, too.

"He's big, strong kid who's not a freshman anymore; he's played five games," said Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson. "He's got a tremendous future."

OSU entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in rushing defense (built against an easy non-conference schedule and underachieving USC), allowing 58.3 yards per game.

When the game was over, Washington had consistently gashed the OSU defensive line, rushing for 281 yards -- more than the Beavers had allowed all season.

Alexis had 107 of those yards on 12 carries. Arnold had 103 on 16 carries.

"Moving up to second on the depth chart did not mean anything," Alexis said. "What matters is you work as hard as you do no matter where you are on the depth chart. I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity once I got it."

Alexis entered the game after Oregon State had taken a 7-0 lead with 5:29 left in the first quarter, and had consecutive rushes of 23 yards on the drive, which ended with a tying touchdown pass from Tuiasosopo to Justin Robbins.

OSU regained the lead on its next possession, but the Huskies and Alexis came right back for another tying TD, this time with Alexis diving over from the 1.

Washington ended the half with a 20-14 lead, but Oregon State reclaimed the lead with 4:29 left in the third on an 11-yard pass from Jonathan Smith to T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

On Washington's next drive, Neuheisel trusted Alexis enough to give him goal-line carries. In a wild sequence, the Huskies were stopped on third-and-goal from the 1, but OSU was called for being offside, giving Washington another chance. On the next play, Alexis scooted in from the 1 to make the score 26-21.

Washington elected to go for a two-point conversion, intent on going up by a touchdown. Instead, its lead was cut to a field goal when OSU's Keith Heyward-Johnson scooped up a Tuiasosopo fumble and returned it the length of the field for two points the other way.

"That was hard to stomach," Neuheisel said.

And it almost cost Washington dearly.

The Huskies built a 10-point lead, but OSU cut it to three on a deep Smith heave caught by Chad Johnson for an 80-yard score. On their final possession, the battling Beavers drove from their 15 with 5:34 left to the UW 28. With 14 seconds left, Ryan Cesca was wide right on a 46-yard field goal attempt.

"A couple of years ago, it probably would have been (a moral victory)," Smith said. "But we feel we are a legitimate Rose Bowl contender, so anytime you lose, it's a disappointment."

Both teams figure to play a lead role as the Pac-10 race takes shape.

Oregon and Arizona lead with 2-0 records. Washington, UCLA and Oregon State -- each 1-1 -- have shown enough to be considered legitimate contenders.

Arizona State is also 1-1, but has the kind of quarterback issues that will probably preclude the Devils from making a serious run, while 1-1 Stanford and Washington State are just looking to finish with winning records. And, at 0-2, Cal (as expected) and USC (not expected at all) are pretty much done.

The Trojans started the season as co-favorites with Washington, but, after consecutive losses to Oregon State and Arizona, USC would seemingly do well just to avoid getting coach Paul Hackett fired.

The Huskies had some nervous moments Saturday night, but didn't follow USC down that slope into 0-2 quicksand.

Instead, they got rich quick by getting quick Rich into the lineup.