Stanford stuck it out in the slop and emerged with a victory to save what’s left of its season.
With a steady stream of rain falling, Luck connected with Toilolo for a 4-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter to extend the Cardinal’s lead to 21-13. Stanford stifled Cal’s offense again and quickly put the ball back in the hands of its star quarterback.
Luck wasted little time.
He found Toilolo for a 41-yard gain and finished off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to fullback Hewitt to put Stanford in front 28-13.
The Cardinal wasted an opportunity to put the game away earlier when Ise Sofele fumbled. Stanford took over and punted quickly, and Cal pushed ahead with the momentum.
Maynard led a 68-yard drive ending with a short TD pass to Spencer Hagan on third down. After a 2-point conversion on a pass to Marvin Jones, Cal cut Stanford’s lead to 28-21 with 10:53 left.
All that time quickly vanished.
Stanford grinded out 7:40 with a 14-play, 57-yard drive with a series of short runs and passes on slick, soggy field that had defenders sliding in every direction. Even running backs, too.
Jordan Williamson, who missed a 33-yard field goal wide left in the first half and hadn’t played in the last three games because of an undisclosed injury, kicked a 35-yard field to give the Cardinal a two-score cushion.
That proved pivotal when C.J. Anderson ran for a 1-yard TD run for the Bears with 14 seconds left. But tight end Coby Fleener easily recoved the onside kick to seal Stanford’s victory.
The Bears could at least take some satisfaction in closing the disparity between the two teams.
The distance was quite evident a year ago in Berkeley, when Luck and the Cardinal beat the Bears 48-14 in the most lopsided Big Game in 80 years. Cal left Stanford with a 34-28 victory in 2009.
This time, both teams had sloppy starts.
Stanford recovered Maynard’s wayward pitch back on the game’s opening drive and took over at its own 37. Three plays later, freshman Ty Montgomery took a reverse and sprinted 34 yards down the sideline to put the Cardinal ahead 7-0.
The poise and polish Luck has showed so often in his college career again took time to emerge.
Steve Williams stepped in front of a falling Montgomery to intercept Luck’s pass and return it 49 yards for a score that was called back because of an illegal block in the back. No matter.
Maynard found half-brother Keenan Allen for a 17-yard TD pass and Giogio Tavecchio kicked his second field goal from 19 yards to give Cal a 13-7 lead in the second quarter.
Stanford powered its way through the rain with a bunched-up running game— and not Luck— to regain its rhythm, ending a 10-play, 78-yard drive with Tyler Gaffney’s short TD run to go ahead 14-13 at the half.