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No Luck needed as Stanford rolls over Arizona behind its QB

Nov 7, 2010 - 7:12 AM Palo Alto, CA (Sports Network) - Andrew Luck was extremely efficient, completing 23-of-32 passes for 293 yards and two touchdowns to help 10th- ranked Stanford continue its best start in 40 years with a 42-17 drubbing of 13th-ranked Arizona.

Luck, who many view as one of the top NFL prospects in college football, was not intercepted and now has a 22-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio for Stanford (8-1, 5-1 Pac-10), which is behind only unbeaten Oregon in the conference standings.

"I told the team that I thought it was (our best game of the season)," said Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh. "I really felt like our team played our most complete game: offensively; defensively; special teams. I thought we played smart, disciplined football."

Chris Owusu was Luck's main target, hauling in nine passes for a career-high 165 yards and a touchdown. Stepfan Taylor had his streak of 100-yard rushing games end at five, but he still ran for 82 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries.

Nick Foles threw for 248 yards and a score on 28-of-48 passing and was picked off once for Arizona (7-2, 4-2), which saw its five-game road win streak come to an end. Juron Criner recorded nine receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown, while Keola Antolin carried the ball 16 times for 86 yards and a TD in defeat.

"We weren't nearly good enough against a really good football team," said Arizona head coach Mike Stoops. "We just got off to a really bad start...we just didn't execute well enough. They outplayed us, outcoached us. We just got beat by a better team."

Stanford wasted no time taking control of the game, as Luck finished off a game-opening 69-yard drive with a 45-yard touchdown strike to Owusu.

Arizona drove deep into Cardinal territory on its first possession, but an intentional grounding penalty on 3rd-and-6 from the 20 pushed the Wildcats out of field goal range, and they punted the ball away.

The hosts doubled their lead early in the second quarter on a lengthy drive that spanned 14 plays and 89 yards over nearly eight minutes. Taylor capped the series with a two-yard touchdown run with 11:43 until halftime.

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard on Alex Zendejas' 33-yard field goal with just under six minutes left in the second, but a 27-yard punt return by Stanford's Drew Terrell late in the quarter set up Taylor's five-yard scoring run to account for the 21-3 halftime margin.

Foles drove Arizona to the Stanford 28 with seconds remaining in the quarter before he was picked off by the Cardinal's Richard Sherman.

Luck extended the Stanford lead to 25 in the third by directing a 10-play, 75- yard drive that ended on his five-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Gaffney. Foles came right back with a seven-yard scoring pass to Criner, but Taylor scored for the third time on the ensuing Cardinal possession to restore the previous margin, 35-10.

A one-yard touchdown run by Antolin for Arizona with 9:02 to play finished Arizona's scoring, and Taylor added yet another touchdown from five yards away with 3:23 remaining to account for the final margin.

Game Notes

Arizona still leads the all-time series, 14-12, although it has lost three of four to Stanford...The Cardinal inducted former defensive back and NFL All-Pro John Lynch into their Hall of Fame...Stanford has scored 30 or more points in nine straight games...This was the first meeting between the two schools where both came into the game ranked...Stanford was last 8-1 in 1970, when Jim Plunkett was the quarterback.