The following year, Oregon State went 11–1, snapped a 33-year losing streak to the USC Trojans, and earned a share of the Pac-10 conference championship for the first time since the conference expanded to ten teams in 1978. It was the first time the Beavers won at least a share of a conference championship since 1964. Oregon State began to develop a national reputation for its high-powered offense and a swarming defense. In fact, the team barely missed an invitation to play in the national BCS title game due to a late-in-the-game missed field goal against Washington. The win over USC did, however, help Erickson's crew clinch a spot in the Fiesta Bowl against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish—the Beavers' first major-bowl appearance since the 1965 Rose Bowl. Oregon State won 41–9, in what is generally considered to be one of Erickson's crowning career achievements.