No. 10 Stanford 42, No. 13 Arizona 17: Cardinal Rock Wildcats In Pac-10 Clash

If you’re looking in the box score for how Stanford won this game, it’s going to be easy enough to find: The Cardinal outgained Arizona, had one more first down and one fewer turnover. But if you’re looking for how Stanford thrashed the Wildcats, it’s not really there; the Wildcats still gained 428 yards for the game.

But Stanford’s defense held the Wildcats to less than 200 yards early as the Cardinal rang up a 28-3 lead. After that, Stanford was largely able to coast, scoring enough to finish with a 42-17 win.

Or maybe the rout’s not quite on.

On a blink-and-you-missed-it drive, Arizona’s offense nickel-and-dimed its way down the field and got a touchdown to cut Stanford’s lead to 28-10. The only moment to breathe during the drive came when Juron Criner went down with an injury — but he didn’t go down for long, coming back onto the field to make the drive-capping seven-yard touchdown catch.

The rout is on in Palo Alto.

Andrew Luck threw a five-yard pass to Tyler Gaffney for his second touchdown of the night, and Stanford leads Arizona 28-3 midway through the third quarter.

Stanford is up 14-0 on Arizona, and that may actually be enough to win this game.

This touchdown came on a grinding drive of 14 plays and 89 yards. Stepfan Taylor punched in the score from two yards out to give the Cardinal on a two-touchdown advantage.

If Arizona’s defense is attempting to flummox Andrew Luck like it did Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi, there is clearly a bit of possum-playing going on.

Luck carved up the Wildcats on Stanford’s opening drive, completing four of five passes for 63 yards and hooking up with Chris Owusu for a 45-yard touchdown strike.

SB Nation’s Arizona and Stanford communities discuss this evening’s Wildcats-Cardinal game, and Rule of Tree thinks the Stanford offensive line’s play versus Arizona’s defensive line could make all the difference in deciding second place in the Pac-10: