Sun Devils Take A 41-9 Breather

Jake Plummer threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as No. 4 Arizona State finally had an easy game, scoring 21 first-quarter points and strolling to a 41-9 win over host Stanford on Saturday.

The Sun Devils, who needed late rallies the previous two weeks to defeat UCLA and Southern California, took control early as Plummer - backed by winds gusting up to 40 mph - threw for 151 yards in the first quarter.

Plummer threw scoring passes of 31 yards to J.R. Redmond and 17 yards to Lenzie Jackson, and Terry Battle added a 5-yard scoring run in the first quarter for the Sun Devils (8-0 overall, 5-0 Pac-10).

Jeff Paulk ran 1 yard for a touchdown, Plummer scored on a 4-yard scramble and Robert Nycz kicked a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter for ASU. Nycz added a 25-yard field goal in the fourth period.

Greg Clark caught a 45-yard scoring pass from Todd Husak, who relieved injured starter Chad Hutchinson late in the first quarter, and Kevin Miller had a 27-yard field goal for Stanford (2-5, 1-3).

Plummer, who has 28 touchdown passes and nine interceptions in his last 13 games, went 21 of 34 for 316 yards with an interception as he moved into ninth place on the Pac-10 career passing list with 8,095 yards.

Keith Poole had a career-high 10 receptions for the Sun Devils, for 161 yards.

Only 32,550 fans, the Cardinal’s smallest home crowd of the season, attended the game at 85,500-seat Stanford Stadium.

Arizona St. 41, Stanford 9

Arizona St. 21 0 17 3 - 41 Stanford 0 9 0 0 - 9

ASU-Redmond 31 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick)

ASU-Jackson 17 pass from Plummer (Nycz kick)

ASU-Battle 5 run (Nycz kick)

Stan-Clark 45 pass from Husak (kick blocked)

Stan-FG Miller 27

ASU-Paulk 1 run (Nycz kick)

ASU-Plummer 4 run (Nycz kick)

ASU-FG Nycz 27

ASU-FG Nycz 25

A-32,550.

ASU Stan First downs 24 18 Rushes-yards 45-175 34-108 Passing 323 190 Comp-Att-Int 22-37-1 20-41-3 Return Yards 48 18 Punts-Avg. 6-33.2 8-38.8 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 8-71 7-74 Time of Possession 32:00 28:00

Individual statistics

RUSHING-ASU, Battle 14-80, Farlow 16-73, Paulk 6-14, Mitchell 1-7, Redmond 1-1, Plummer 7-0. Stanford, Mitchell 17-81, Comella 6-23, Dunn 1-20, Bookman 4-9, Hutchinson 3-3, Husak 3-(minus 28).

PASSING-ASU, Plummer 21-34-1-316, Campbell 1-3-0-7. Stanford, Hutchinson, 3-7-1-17, Husak 17-34-2-173.

RECEIVING-ASU, Poole 10-161, Boyer 4-62, Mitchell 2-17, Redmond 1-31, Jackson 1-17, Bates 1-16, Bush 1-8, Mustafa 1-6, Battle 1-5. Stanford, Dunn 4-29, Manning 3-25, Clark 2-48, Walters 2-23, Mitchell 2-21, Hanson 2-16, Bookman 2-0, Johnson 1-17, Kirwan 1-7, Salina 1-4.

UCLA 38, California 29

Skip Hicks ran for 146 yards and three touchdowns and turned a screen pass into a game-breaking 63-yard score as the Bruins beat the Golden Bears at Berkeley, Calif.

The Bruins (3-4, 2-2 Pac-10) overcame Pat Barnes’ school-record, 435-yard passing effort by sacking the Cal quarterback seven times. UCLA also forced four turnovers, twice stripping Cal receivers of the ball after long receptions.

Cal (5-2, 2-2), losing its second straight after opening with five consecutive wins, pulled to 24-21 on Barnes’ 25-yard touchdown pass to Na’il Benjamin. Kato Serwanga set up the score with a diving interception of Cade McNown’s pass at the UCLA 49.

But the Bruins scored the next 14 points to pull away for their first win at Cal since 1988.

Catching Cal in a blitz, McNown threw a screen pass to Hicks, who burst through traffic, then cut to the right sideline and into the clear to go the final 50 yards untouched.

The Bears’ fourth turnover led to a 1-yard TD run by Hicks, with 11:08 left. Andy Colbert’s interception of Barnes’ pass at the Cal 20 preceded Hicks’ fourth TD, which tied a UCLA singlegame record.

Barnes, who completed 26 of 57 passes, threw his third touchdown pass, a 20-yarder to Bobby Shaw, in the final minute to eclipse Rich Campbell’s previous high of 421 passing yards in 1980 against Florida.

McNown completed 16 of 28 for 273 yards.

UCLA 3 7 14 14 - 38 California 7 7 7 8 - 29

First quarter

UCLAFG 37 Merten, 2:27 Cal-Willis 1 run (Longwell kick), 5:25

Second quarter

UCLABrown 5 run (Merten kick), 3:38 Cal-Benjamin 16 pass from Barnes (Longwell kick), 14:24

Third quarter

UCLAHicks 34 run (Merten kick), 2:26 UCLAHicks 8 run (Merten kick), 8:56 Cal-Benjamin 25 pass from Barnes (Longwell kick), 13:23

Fourth quarter

UCLAHicks 63 pass from McNown (Merten kick), 1:12 UCLAHicks 1 run (Merten kick), 3:52 Cal-Shaw 20 pass from Barnes (Gonzalez pass from Barnes), 14:20 A-54,000.

UCLA Cal First downs 21 27 Rushes-yards 51-206 34-79 Passing 273 435 Comp-Att-Int 16-28-2 26-57-1 Return Yards 43 30 Punts-Avg. 7-46.7 6-43.3 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 4-3 Penalties-Yards 10-98 5-32 Time of Possession 31:17 28:43

Individual statistics

RUSHING-UCLA, Hicks 28-146, Price 11-35, K. Brown 3-20, McNown 9-5. Cal, Willis 17-64, O’Neal 3-19, Vera 1-1, Barnes 13-(minus-5).

PASSING-UCLA, McNown 16-28-2-273. Cal, Barnes 26-57-1-435.

RECEIVING-UCLA, Hicks 4-113, McElroy 4-56, Clark 2-38, Grieb 2-14, Ayers 1-35, Walendy 1-9, Lee 1-4, R. Roques 1-4. Cal, Shaw 12-168, Gonzalez 6-125, Douglas 4-77, Benjamin 3-52, Vera 1-13.

Arizona 33, Oregon St. 7

Gary Taylor rushed for two touchdowns and Charles Myles added a 28-yard scoring run with 8:34 remaining as the Wildcats beat the Beavers at Tucson, Ariz.

With the turf at Arizona Stadium wet following a day of rain, the Wildcats (4-3, 2-2 Pac-10) elected to keep the ball on the ground most of the game.

Arizona wound up with 491 yards of total offense, 340 rushing, in handing Oregon State (1-6, 1-4) its 11th consecutive road loss.

Oregon St. 7 0 0 0 - 7 Arizona 7 3 9 14 - 33

OSU-King 12 run (Stuckey kick)

UA-Taylor 41 run (Peyton kick)

UA-FG Peyton 31

UA-Safety King tackled in end zone

UA-Williams 55 pass from Smith (Peyton kick)

UA-Taylor 9 run (Peyton kick)

UA-Myles 28 run (Peyton kick)

A-43,716.

OSU UA First downs 13 23 Rushes-yards 44-187 58-340 Passing 56 151 Comp-Att-Int 8-16-2 9-12-0 Return Yards 0 71 Punts-Avg. 7-38.0 4-44.3 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 8-43 6-53 Time of Possession 23:45 36:15

Individual statistics

RUSHING-Oregon St., Kirkman 19-110, King 19-54, Moran 10-13, D. Williams 4-5, Tompkins 1-5, Muhammad 1-0. Arizona, Taylor 9-95, Eafon 7-70, Myles 9-64, Callen 8-37, Schmidtke 6-29, K. Smith 12-19, Sprotte 6-17, R. Williams 1-9.

PASSING-Oregon St., Moran 7-14-2-46. Arizona, Smith 9-11-0-151, Batten 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-Oregon St., D. Williams 2-6, Tompkins 2-15, Kuykendall 1-11, Reynolds 1-9, Jenkins 1-8, Kirkman 1-8. Arizona, R. Williams 4-76, Metzler 3-31, McDaniel 1-36, Northcutt 1-8.