Stanford outlasts UCLA in double OT
Stanford saved its wildest game of the season for last.
Cardinal linebacker Stephen Herron got in the backfield and stopped Britain Brown on a two-point conversion in double overtime, giving Stanford a 4847 win Saturday night at the Rose Bowl and ensuring its season would end on an improbable four-game winning streak.
The Cardinal (4-2) led by 17 at halftime, gave up 31 straight points to start the second half, and then scored two touchdow ns in the final 2: 34 of regulation to tie the game.
Simi Fehoko set a school record with 16 catches for 230 yards and three touchdowns, including a 14-yard pass from Davis Mills in the second overtime. UCLA (3- 3) answered with a 21yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Chase Griffin to Kyle Philips on fourth-and-18, but went for two and was denied.
UCLA scored on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Griffin to tight end Greg Dulcich on the second play of the first overtime, but Stanford answered when graduate transfer Isaiah Sanders scored on a 2-yard run, the second time he scored on a direct snap in the game.
Both teams said earlier this week they would decline bowl invitations, ensuring their seasons would end Saturday.
Stanford was finishing off a 19- day road trip with
stops in Seattle, Corvallis, Ore., and Santa Barbara, where it trained all week at Santa Barbara City College leading up to Saturday’s game.
In what could be his final game at Stanford, redshirt junior quarterback Mills completed 32 of 47 passes for 428 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Brown had 29 carries for 219 yards for the Bruins.
Mills had thrown 222 passes without an interceptions but threw picks on back- to- back possessions in the third quarter, both of which led to UCLA touchdowns, and then threw a pick- 6 with 5:39 remaining.
But Mills threw an 11yard scoring pass to Fehoko with 2:34 to play and then a 21-yard scoring pass with 18 seconds left to tie the game at 34-34.
Griffin came in for the injured Dorian Thompson-Robinson late in the second quarter and completed 9 of 11 passes for 127 yards and four scores.