Taylor, No. 22 Stanford shreds Cal in Big Game
Stepfan Taylor ran for a career-high 189 yards and one touchdown, and No. 22 Stanford overwhelmed rival California 21-3 on Saturday at Berkeley, Calif., for its third straight Big Game victory.
In the 115th meeting between the Bay Area schools and the first at remodeled Memorial Stadium, the sunny and serene Strawberry Canyon setting might have been Cal's best highlight. The Cardinal (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) outgained the Golden Bears 475 to 217 yards, outrushed Cal 252 to 3 yards and never lost its grip on the coveted Stanford Axe.
Cal (3-5, 2-3) had not scored so few points in the Big Game since losing 10-3 in 1998.
No. 8 Oregon State 21, Utah 7: At Corvallis, Ore., Oregon State's defense helped out when quarterback Cody Vaz struggled in the rain, and the Beavers (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12) beat Utah (2-5, 0-4).
Vaz made his debut last weekend as Oregon State's starter and threw for three touchdowns against BYU to earn Pac-12 player of the week honors. This time, he passed for 174 yards against the Utes. But the Beavers' defense had an interception and a fumble recovery that led to two first-half touchdown runs by Storm Woods.
No. 11 Southern California 50, Colorado 6: At Los Angeles, Matt Barkley threw for 298 yards and six touchdowns while setting Southern California's career record for TD passes, and Robert Woods set a pair of school marks himself in the Trojans' victory over Colorado.
Barkley and Woods climbed atop the Trojans' record books during the most prolific day of their three-year partnership at USC (6-1, 4-1 Pac-12), connecting on scoring throws of 39, 29, 17 and 3 yards in the first 35 minutes against hapless Colorado (1-6, 1-3).
That gave Woods a school record for TD receptions in a single game.
Barkley hit Woods with his 100th career touchdown pass in the second quarter to surpass Matt Leinart's USC and conference records. Woods passed Dwayne Jarrett on USC's career receptions list a few minutes later with his 217th career catch, going 17 yards for another TD.
Arizona 52, Washington 17: At Tucson, Ariz., Matt Scott threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns, Ka'Deem Carey ran for 172 yards and Arizona raced out of its bye week with a rout of the Huskies (3-4, 1-3).
The Wildcats (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12) had their way with Washington's defense from the opening drive, eclipsing 500 total yards (533) for the sixth time this season.