PALO ALTO, Calif. - If Arizona State took a major step by beating Big Ten champion Wisconsin last week, its Pacific-12 opener showed the Sun Devils still aren’t ready to make a move in their own conference.
Taylor Kelly threw for 367 yards and had three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and No. 23 Arizona State stumbled at the start in a 42-28 loss at No. 5 Stanford on Saturday night in the league opener for both teams.
“They’re a championship caliber team and we weren’t ready,” Arizona State Coach Todd Graham said. “I apologized to the players for not having them ready. Stanford was better prepared.”
The defending conference champion Cardinal (3-0, 1-0) controlled every facet of the game to turn the only match up between ranked opponents this week into a lead of 29-0 at halftime and39-7 through three quarters. Stanford scored twice in the air and three times on the ground, forced two interceptions, blocked two punts, had 10 tackles for loss and recorded three sacks.
Arizona State out gained Stanford 417 yards to 391.
Jaelen Strong caught 12 passes for 168 yards and a score, and Marion Grice was held to 50 yards rushing and two touchdowns in an otherwise disappointing showing for the Sun Devils (2-1, 0-1) after beating the Badgers in a controversial finish last week.
“Anything that could have happened, happened,” Graham said. “The first thing that happened was Stanford.”
Stanford showed more diversity on both sides of the ball than it had in solid, but not overwhelming, victories against San Jose State and Army. The Cardinal’s funky formations and disguised defenses had the Sun Devils dazed and dizzy, again displaying the disparity between the past four league champions - Stanford and Oregon - and everybody else.
At least for 45 minutes.
“I could care less about style points,” Stanford Coach David Shaw said. “I could care less about what it looks like. We played one great half, a solid third quarter and a bad fourth quarter.”
Shaw still took solace in getting Cardinal contributions from all over the roster.
Kevin Hogan completed 11 of 17 passes for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns to Ty Montgomery to lift Stanford to its 11th consecutive victory.Montgomery, held without a touchdown last season after being slowed by a nagging knee injury, finished with four catches for 62 yards.
Josh Mauro, making his first career start in place of injured defensive end Henry Anderson, backed off his pass rush and stuck his left hand out to corral Kelly’s pass for an interception. The play extended Stanford’s streak of forcing a turnover to 27 games - the longest in the country - and set up Montgomery’s 17-yard touchdown catch.
Tyler Gaffney ran for a short touchdown after Devon Cajuste’s diving, 34-yard reception. Anthony Wilkerson scampered 13 yards for another score, and Montgomery sliced up the middle for an easy 30-yard touchdown.
In other games involving Pacific-12 teams, Keith Price threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns in less than a half, Deonate Cooper scored his first career touchdown and No. 17 Washington (3-0) routed Idaho State (2-1) 56-0 in Seattle. … Cody Kessler passed for 164 yards and a touchdown and the Southern California (3-1) defense stifled Utah State (2-2) in a 17-14 victory in Los Angeles.
MOUNTAIN WEST Late TDs lift Oregon St.
SAN DIEGO - Sean Mannion threw three touchdowns and Oregon State scored three times in the fourth quarter to come from behind and defeat San Diego State 34-30 on Saturday night.
After Mannion hit Terron Ward for a 10-yard touchdown pass to pull Oregon State within 30-28, cornerback Steven Nelson intercepted Quinn Kaehler’s pass and returned it 16 yards to give the Beavers the lead with 2:38 remaining in the game.
Kaehler, who was making his first career start, was intercepted again on the next possession by Ryan Murphy to seal the victory for the Beavers. It’s their second victory in five games against the Aztecs.
Mannion completed 38 of 55 attempts for 367 yards, and the Oregon State rushing game was held to just 2 yards. Ward ran 10 times for 25 yards, but Mannion lost 23 yards on 4 attempts.
Kaehler completed 16 of 24 passes for 251 yards and 2 touchdowns after taking over the starting job when Adam Dingwell injured his back last week against Ohio State. Adam Muema rushed a career-high 28 times for 71 yards and 1 touchdown.
In another game involving Mountain West teams, freshman Tyler Stewart threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns in his first start as Nevada (2-2, 1-0) defeated Hawaii (0-3, 0-1) 31-9 in Reno, Nevada.
Sports, Pages 35 on 09/22/2013