Stanford football: It’s Rose Bowl for Cardinal
With the weather relenting, Stanford beat UCLA for the second time in six days Friday night 27-24 and won the Pac-12 championship for the first time since 1999.
They’re headed for the Rose Bowl, and quarterback Kevin Hogan, the game’s MVP, is 4-4 in his starts, all against ranked opponents.
A potential tying 52-yard field goal attempt by the Bruins’Ka’imi Fairbairn was wide left with 39 seconds left.
In Pasadena on Jan. 1, the No. 8 Cardinal (11-2) will play the winner of Saturday’s Big Ten title game between Nebraska and Wisconsin.
No. 17 UCLA (9-4) had a superb 194-yard rushing performance by Johnathan Franklin, but the Cardinal made the big plays at the end.
Hogan completed 16-of 22 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, while Stepfan Taylor rushed for 78 yards and broke the Stanford career rushing record.
UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley completed 23 of 31 passes for 177 yards and rushed for another 83 yards.
Jordan Williamson’s 36-yard field goal gave Stanford a 27-24 lead with 6:49 left. A 23-yard run by Kelsey Young followed an 18-yard punt return by Drew Terrell to help set up the field goal.
UCLA reached the Stanford 42 on the ensuing possession, but the Cardinal held and A.J. Tarpley couldn’t hang on to an interception on third down.
The Bruins forced a Stanford punt when Tevin McDonaldd broke up a pass intended for tight end Levine Toilolo.
A fourth-down pass to tight end Joseph Fauria kept UCLA’s drive alive, but Fairbairn missed the field goal.
A 31-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn on UCLA’s first possession of the second half tied the score 17-17. Franklin ignited the drive with a 32-yard run.
After holding the Cardinal to one first down on their next possession, the Bruins marched 80 yards to a go-ahead score. Hundley threw a perfect 20-yard strike to Shaq Evans on the right sideline. Franklin finished the drive with a 20-yard touchdown run to make it 24-17 Bruins.
But Hogan fired a 26-yard touchdown pass to Drew Terrell to tie the score 3:39 into the fourth quarter.
The crowd, announced as 31,622 but was probably more like 25,000 because of the threat of rain. Except for a couple of showers, it turned out to be a fine night.
Franklin nearly equaled his 65-yard rushing output of last week on the first drive. He broke loose for a 51-yard touchdown just 3:25 into the game. He ran up the middle untouched and outraced Alex Carter and Jordan Richards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Stanford tied it on Hogan’s 2-yard bootleg run around the left side, completely fooling the UCLA defense. On the previous play, Taylor took a swing pass, broke a tackle by Cassius Marsh and sprinted 34 yards to the 2.
The Bruins continued to gash the vaunted Stanford rushing defense. Hundley ran 48 yards on a keeper, and Franklin ripped off a 19-yard gain before Hundley scored on a 5-yard keeper. He rolled briefly to the right, cut back and raced untouched around the left side to the touchdown, putting UCLA up 14-7.
The Bruins had 132 yards rushing in the first quarter, nearly double what Stanford’s nation-leading defense averages surrendering (71.3).
UCLA was driving again early in the second quarter when safety Ed Reynolds made his sixth interception of the season and pulled off a magnificent 80-yard return. To the Stanford fans’ displeasure, he was called down on the 1-yard line on a tackle by quarterback Hundley. The call was upheld on a review.
Reynolds grabbed Hundley’s pass at the Stanford 19, kept his feet in bounds, shook off a couple of tackles and broke into the open field before Hundley finally caught him.
Taylor scored his 14th touchdown of the season on the next play, tying the score.
In the closing minute of the first half, Taylor broke Darrin Nelson’s 31-year-old school record of 4,169 career rushing yards. His 10-yard run set up Jordan Williamson’s 17-14, which gave Stanford a 17-14 edge on the final play of the half.
UCLA had a 268-190 advantage in total yardage in the first half, chiefly on Franklin’s 113 rushing yards on 10 carries.
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