Cardinal have fun at Bruins’ expense
TOP 25/PAC-12
STANFORD 31, NO. 9 UCLA 10
PASADENA, Calif. — When Kevin Hogan led Stanford onto the hallowed Rose Bowl turf for the fourth time in three years, the quarterback realized the stakes were a whole lot higher for No. 8 UCLA, which could clinch the Pac-12 South with a victory.
Hogan and the Cardinal were only playing for fun, and the two-time defending conference champions had a boatload of it while ruining the Bruins’ season yet again.
Hogan passed for 234 yards and two touchdowns, and Stanford crushed UCLA’s hopes for the division title and a College Football Playoff spot with a 3110 victory Friday.
“We knew that this meant a lot to them, but we wanted to come out and get a win for our seniors, for our team,” Hogan said. “We haven’t lost to them since we’ve been here, and we wanted to keep that streak going.”
Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector caught scoring passes for the Cardinal (7-5, 5-4 Pac12) as the two-time defending conference champions salvaged some satisfaction from a down season by trouncing the Bruins (9-3, 6-3) for the seventh consecutive time.
“I’d say it’s the best game that everyone has played all year,” Cajuste said. “There was finally a time when Stanford played all four quarters in all three phases of the game, so it’s great to see an improvement not just from Hogan, but everyone else.”
With Hogan’s dynamite 16for-19 performance and two rushing touchdowns from Remound Wright, Stanford snatched the South title away from UCLA and handed it to Arizona, a 42-35 winner over Arizona State on Friday.
“We had higher expectations than that,” Brett Hundley said. “To put a performance together like that, it’s shocking.”
Hundley passed for 146 yards in likely his final home game for the Bruins, losing a matchup with Hogan for the fourth time in three years. While Hogan starred, Hundley endured the third-worst passing game of his 39 career starts before finishing on the sideline with an injured throwing hand.
Just six days after a blowout victory over rival Southern California, UCLA retained none of that momentum or passion in its third home loss of the season. The Bruins’ latest flop in a big game ended their fivegame winning streak, which had given them an outside shot at the four-team playoff.
The Cardinal are comfortable in Pasadena after playing here on the past two New Year’s Days, and Hogan sparked the Pac-12’s lowest-scoring offense to a dominant, clock-chewing performance that measured up with Stanford’s best efforts during its current renaissance.
“Forget about what’s happened in the past: This game was indicative of how we want to play,” Stanford Coach David Shaw said. “Hopefully, we will carry this on into the bowl game.”
For all his success in a threeyear revival of the UCLA program, Mora still hasn’t beaten Stanford or Oregon.
“We have to figure out a way to close the gap,” Mora said. “I thought we had closed it, but we still have work to do.”