After a brief delay here, we are back live at the Rose Bowl with No. 8 Stanford against No. 17 UCLA.
3:45 pm: Stanford takes the opening kick and drives efficiently down the field, scoring the first touchdown of the game on a Kevin Hogan touchdown throw to Drew Terrell. Stanford covered 75 yards in 12 plays, taking 4:41. 7-0 Stanford.
3:50: Brett Hundley scrambles out of the pocket and finds his receiver downfield for a huge 71-yard gain. UCLA’s running game isn’t generating much push, but it looks like coach Jim Mora is going to take a lot of deep shots down the field.
3:51: Hundley shows great touch on his throws, finding Joseph Fauria in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown to knot the score at 7 midway through the first quarter. Folks, we might be in for a shootout.
3:55: Stanford running the ball right into the heart of the UCLA defense on the second drive, and it is not working. 3rd and 14 upcoming for the Cardinal.
3:57: David Shaw calls another draw and Taylor gains just six games. Stanford punts it away and Shaw showing maybe a little too much respect for UCLA’s defense early on.
3:58: In other news, Stanford has traveled well to Pasadena, filling about four sections of the bowl. UCLA doing pretty well with attendance, filling most of the student sections as a late-arriving crowd continues to file in on Senior Day.
4:01: Hundley is sacked on first down, Chase Thomas with his first sack in quite a while. Josh Mauro lines up at nose tackle with Terrence Stephens out and promptly gets another sack, bringing up 3rd and 22 from the 6-yard line.
4:03: UCLA punts and Stanford will take over from its own 49-yard line with 4:42 to play in the first.
4:05: Hogan looking more nervous in this game then he did against Oregon, firing high over the middle to Jamal Rashad-Patterson and not taking his opportunity to scramble on third down. The Cardinal forced to punt again.
4:08: Zychlinski at it again, pinning UCLA inside the five-yard line.
4:09: Franklin starting to get a little traction, but it’s the little dinks and dunks that are hurting Stanford so far. UCLA converts on third down, now at the 25-yard line.
4:11: Hundley makes Terrence Brown pay on the outside, lofting the ball right over his hands for a 31-yard gain.
4:12: UCLA lines up to go for it on fourth down, instead has Hundley quick kick a punt down to the one-yard line.
4:14: Entertaining first quarter here from the Rose Bowl, it’s 7-7 as the teams change ends. Stanford will face a second down and eight when the second quarter resumes.
4:17: Stanford stalls with Hogan missing a throw that would have converted on third down. Now just 3-8 so far, while Hundley has over 120 yards in the air already. Zychlinski’s punt out of bounds at the Stanford 48.
4:20: UCLA trying all sorts of running plays, not much of it is working. Franklin gaining two or three yards at a time, but Hundley hits Shaq Evans for a first down on the outside.
4:21: David Shaw challenges the ruling, however, surprising everyone. But the replay was very clear, the ball hit the ground and will be overturned.
4:25: Ruling overturned, Stanford gets the ball back as UCLA punts. Cardinal to take over inside the 20.
4:29: Hogan settling in, finds JRP for a nice first down on the outside. Deep ball down the middle off the back foot not a bad throw, Levine Toilolo gets grabbed and pass interference gives Stanford a 1st down.
4:30: Stepfan Taylor had 34 yards in the first quarter, but isn’t getting much except off the draw.
4:32: Hogan finally takes off with the ball and shocker, it pays off with a 16-yard gain and he didn’t even have to get hit as he runs out of bounds. UCLA run defense is stout thus far, but holes on the outside.
4:33: Great throw from Hogan to Ertz, finally getting the Mackey Award finalist the ball in space for nice gain. Finds Ertz again for a first down inside the 10. Stanford moving the ball well on this drive.
4:36: Anthony Wilkerson makes Shaw look like a genius, finally finding some room on the Wildcat and running untouched into the end zone. 14-7 now with 8:22 to play in the second quarter. Stanford went 10 plays, 88 yards, 4:32 off the clock. That’s not bad.
4:40: Hogan now 6-11 for 64 yards with a touchdown. Stanford with 86 yards on the ground thus far, UCLA with just 34.
4:41: Kickoff by Jordan Williamson and UCLA takes over on the 21. Franklin gets stopped after no gain, and Stanford D starting to seal the middle.
4:42: Drew Terrell takes the punt out to the Stanford 49 where the Cardinal will take over trying to send a message to UCLA before halftime.
4:44: Stepfan Taylor shrugs off a tackle, steps through a hole and goes 49-yards for a touchdown, now 21-7 after an Oregon-like drive that took 42 seconds.
4:45: Williamson kicks it out of bounds, UCLA to take over at the 35-yard line with 6:40 to go. Chants of Go, Stanford, ringing out at the Rose Bowl. Might be 70,000 here in the stadium.
4:47: With that run, Stepfan Taylor now just 90 yards short of Darrin Nelson’s career-rushing record. He might do it today the way UCLA’s defense is playing right now.
4:48: UCLA can’t gain yards again, and Stanford to take over at the 20 after the punt goes into the end zone.
4:51: Drew Terrell taken to the locker room without his helmet, riding on a cart. Not sure why but might have been injured on his 19-yard punt return where he lost his helmet. Stanford forced to punt after Hogan fumbles while throwing and has to dive on the ball.
4:53: Zychlinski down as the snap is low and he has to pick it up before trying to punt again. Fumbles on the play and UCLA recovers. Zychlinski heading to the locker room sans helmet as well, could be huge blow to Stanford this week and potentially next if Zychlinski can’t return. Ben Ryhne is the backup punter, and he is warming up FRANTICALLY on the sidelines.
4:58: UCLA has the ball for four plays, lose eight yards. Kick a 49-yard field goal, however, and cut the lead to 11. It’s now 21-10 with 1:37 to go. Stanford to receive, but Bruins to receive kick in the second half.
5:01: Stepfan Taylor at 100 yards for the game, and we haven’t hit halftime yet. Stanford driving and Hogan hits JRP for a nice 19-yard gain over the middle. There are 52 seconds left, Stanford has 2 timeouts to play with and needs to go 10 more yards to get in field goal range.
5:03: Ben Ryhne doesn’t get a chance to show off his leg, as Hogan sacked on 3rd down but Jim Mora lets the clock run out in the half. Stanford up 21-10.
5:27: UCLA gains its first first down since the first quarter, but then a nice run by Franklin is negated by a hold. Now 2nd and 19 for UCLA on its own 30.
5:30: Another failed 3rd down for the Bruins, and they will punt from their own 40. Jeff Locke hits absolute bombs when he punts.
5:33: Stanford moving the ball nicely, Hogan hits Hewitt on a rollout from the Jumbo offensive set for big gain. Hogan throws it away on third down and Ben Ryhne back and hits the first punt of his career. Not bad.
5:40: It’s the Stepfan Taylor show here. He rips off a 40-yard run, getting really close to the record. 3rd and goal for Stanford from the one-yard line. Stanford looking to put exclamation mark, and Taylor goes in for his second TD of the day. 28-10 Stanford with 7:41 to play. The crowd has not left yet…
5:47: Williamson kicks off, and Alex Debniak jars the ball loose from Kenneth Walker. Usua Amanam picks it up and rumbles 11 yards into the end zone. 35-10 for Stanford and maybe UCLA starts to close things down.
6:01: Franklin goes into the end zone, and UCLA makes it 17-35 with 1:53 to play in the third. Still, the atmosphere is really not anything to suggest UCLA is going to try and make a game of it.
6:47: Wholesale changes on the offense, as Stanford is just running out the clock with under two minutes to play and the score 35-17. That will likely be the final, Stanford set to host the Pac-12 Championship next Friday.