UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley passes during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Southern California, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
PASADENA, Calif. - Brett Hundley passed for 326 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another score, leading No. 11 UCLA past No. 24 Southern California 38-20 on Saturday night for the Bruins' third straight victory in the annual crosstown showdown.
'UCLA runs L.A., if you guys didn't hear last year,' Hundley said with a grin.
'It's hard to express how it feels to win three times in a row versus your rival,' Hundley continued. 'Everything that goes into the game, each year it gets bigger and bigger, and this year was to top it off. This was the biggest - the Pac-12 South (standings), everything was on the line. And to come in our house, have everybody there and to pull out a victory like that at home, it says a lot to this team.'
Devin Lucien, Thomas Duarte and Eldridge Massington caught scoring passes as the Bruins (9-2, 6-2 Pac-12) confirmed their Los Angeles supremacy and closed in on the Pac-12 South title with a one-sided romp over their biggest rivals at a festive Rose Bowl.
Paul Perkins rushed for 93 yards and a score for UCLA, which hadn't won three straight over USC since 1998.
After five consecutive wins down the stretch of a slow-starting season, UCLA can advance to the Pac-12 title game with a victory over Stanford on Friday.
Cody Kessler passed for 214 yards for the Trojans (7-4, 6-3), who struggled mightily against UCLA's inspired defense.
Not much went well for USC in its first rivalry game under new coach Steve Sarkisian after linebacker Anthony Sarao returned Hundley's only interception 17 yards for a score on UCLA's opening drive.
The Bruins scored all of their 38 points in less than 30 minutes, and their defense limited the Trojans' offense to just 200 yards and seven points in the first three quarters.
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No. 3 Oregon 44, Colorado 10
EUGENE, Ore. - Marcus Mariota threw for 323 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 73 yards and another score in perhaps his last game at Autzen Stadium and Oregon beat Colorado.
Freshman Royce Freeman ran for 105 yards and two scores for the Ducks (10-1, 7-1 Pac-12, CFP No. 2). Oregon has already clinched the North Division's berth in the conference championship game on Dec. 5.
It was the seventh straight loss for Colorado (2-9, 0-8).
Mariota, a Heisman Trophy front-runner who has thrown a touchdown pass in every game of his career at Oregon, has not yet said whether he will forgo his final year of eligibility next season and declare for the NFL draft, although most expect him to. Should he go to the NFL, he is projected by many as a top-five pick.
Mariota, who owns school records in seven different categories including passing yards and touchdown passes, has thrown 32 touchdowns this season with just two interceptions and leads the nation in quarterback rating. With 42 total touchdowns this season (32 passing, 9 rushing and 1 TD catch), he passed former USC quarterback Matt Barkley (41) for the Pac-12's single-season record.
Against Colorado, Mariota became the fifth in an exclusive group of quarterbacks who have thrown for 9,000 yards and run for another 2,000. Among the names on that list are Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick.
Colorado started sophomore Jordan Gehrke at quarterback instead of Sefo Liufau. It was Gehrke's first start.
Liufau, who has 27 touchdowns this season, started the second half. He had a bye to recover from a concussion he sustained against Arizona, but his status for the game was still in question earlier this week.
Oregon scored on Freeman's 20-yard run on the Ducks' first drive of the game, but the two-point conversion failed. Mariota ran for a 46-yard TD to up the lead to 13-0.
Freeman added a 7-yard scoring run to give the Ducks a 20-0 lead before Will Oliver's 23-yard field goal put Colorado on the scoreboard.
Freeman became the first true freshman to reach 1,000 yards rushing at Oregon.
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No. 15 Arizona 42, No. 20 Utah 10
SALT LAKE CITY - Freshman Nick Wilson ran for 218 yards and three touchdowns as Arizona overcame an injury to quarterback Anu Solomon and pulled away from Utah.
In heavy rain at times, Wilson topped the 1,000-yard mark this season. Arizona led 21-10 in the fourth quarter before Wilson scored on a 75-yard run.
Arizona (9-2, 6-2 Pac-12) reached nine wins for the first time since its 1998 Holiday Bowl team went 12-1 and was ranked No. 4. The Wildcats retain slim hopes for a berth in the conference championship game as a matchup with rival Arizona State looms next week.
The Wildcats ran for 298 yards, the most allowed by Utah (7-4, 4-4) this season.
Solomon threw for 58 yards and got his first career rushing touchdown in the first half. He was fitted for a walking boot at halftime because of an apparent injury to his right foot.
Arizona backup quarterback Jesse Scroggins only threw five times, completing three.
Backup quarterback Jesse Scroggins only threw five times, completing three, as the Wildcats relied on their potent rushing offense and opportunistic defense to turn the game into a rout.
Arizona beat a ranked team on the road for the second time this season, having downed then-No. 2 Oregon 31-24 on Oct. 2.
Wilson completed 16 of 29 passes for 143 yards with two touchdowns.
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Stanford 38, California 17
BERKELEY, Calif. - Remound Wright ran for four touchdowns, and Stanford used a smothering defensive effort to rout rival California and clinch bowl eligibility.
Blake Martinez intercepted two passes and forced a fumble as the Cardinal (6-5, 4-4 Pac-12) created five turnovers. Stanford beat the Golden Bears (5-6, 3-6) for the fifth straight year in the Big Game, parading around Memorial Stadium with the Axe in front of an emptying crowd of 56,483.
Jared Goff tied Cal's record for touchdowns and broke his own school record for yards passing in a season but had little to show for his milestones. He threw for 182 yards, one TD and two interceptions.
Cal can still clinch bowl eligibility at home against BYU next week.
For a change in recent seasons, the 117th Big Game actually had big implications for both teams.
A series of setbacks put the two-time defending Pac-12 champion Cardinal on the brink of missing the postseason, especially with a visit at No. 11 UCLA looming in the finale. The Bears went 1-11 last season - with the lone win against lower-tier Portland State - but had shown signs of progress in coach Sonny Dykes' second year.
Instead, Stanford turned it into another Big Game blowout.
The Cardinal crushed Cal 63-13 last year - the largest margin of victory in the running rivalry - and tied the second-biggest road victory in Big Game history this time.
Wright ran for 92 yards on 23 attempts, becoming the first Stanford player to rush for four touchdowns in a game since Stephan Taylor in November 2010. Stanford lost top playmaker Ty Montgomery with a sprained right shoulder in the first quarter.
Cal's conference-worst defense couldn't overcome its own loss when safety Michael Lowe was ejected for targeting the head Austin Hooper on the first play from scrimmage. That was just the first in a series of mistakes for Dykes' team.
The Bears finished with 12 penalties for 113 yards, while Stanford had just four penalties for 21 yards.
Kevin Hogan threw for 214 yards and one interception, and he also ran for a short touchdown as the Cardinal overpowered the Bears on both sides.
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, November 23, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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