STANFORD, Calif. -- Christian McCaffrey showed off his trademark versatility, slipping out of the backfield for a 56-yard touchdown reception and diving over the pile for a 1-yard score, and No. 7 Stanford beat Southern California 27-10 on Saturday night.
The Associated Press player of the year and Heisman Trophy runner-up had a routine 260 all-purpose yards. Michael Rector went 56 yards for a touchdown on a reverse with 3:26 left in the third quarter to make it 27-10.
The Cardinal (2-0, 1-0) have now won seven of nine against the Trojans, the best nine-game stretch for the Cardinal in the history of a rivalry that covers 96 games and more 111 years.
USC is 1-2 for the first time since 2000, when the Trojans started 1-4 in Pete Carroll's debut season as coach.
In other games involving Pac-12 teams, Jake Browning threw three touchdown passes in the first 16 minutes and No. 8 Washington closed out its uninspired non-conference schedule with a 41-3 victory over Portland State in Seattle. Browning and the Huskies (3-0) led 14-0 after less than three minutes and coasted their way past the lower division opponent. Browning threw a 43-yard touchdown to Chico McClatcher on Washington's opening drive, and added TD tosses of 11 yards to Darrell Daniels, 13 yards to McClatcher on the second play of the second quarter and a 4-yard TD pass to Myles Gaskin early in the fourth quarter. Browning finished 12 of 19 for 163 yards. ... Darell Garretson threw for 172 yards and ran for a touchdown and Oregon State (1-1) snapped a 10-game losing streak that dated back to last season with a 37-7 victory over Idaho State in Corvallis, Ore. ... Luke Falk threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns as Washington State beat visiting Idaho 56-6. James Williams rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown for Washington State (1-2), which won on a wet and windy day when the Air Raid offense was not working very well. Idaho (1-2) struggled for the second consecutive week against a Pac-12 team, after losing at No. 8 Washington. Falk threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Robert Lewis early in the fourth for a 35-6 lead, and the Cougars added three more touchdowns in the fourth.
SUN BELT
No. 25 Miami cruises
BOONE, N.C. -- Brad Kaaya threw for 368 yards and three scores, Mark Walton ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns and No. 25 Miami rolled to a 45-10 victory Saturday over Appalachian State in front of a record crowd of 34,658 at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
Miami (3-0) came in having scored a school-record 108 points in its first two games in victories over Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic. The Hurricanes picked up where they left off, scoring on their first four possessions to build a 24-0 lead.
Walton set the tone, busting through the middle of the line on Miami's first play from scrimmage and racing 80 yards untouched to the end zone. Kaaya added first quarter TD passes to David Njoku and Stacy Coley.
"There is a lot of weight on his shoulders, but he handles it well," Miami coach Mark Richt said of Kaaya. "... It was nice to see him play a really solid game."
Coley finished with five catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
In other games involving a Sun Belt Conference team, Chris DeLaRosa and RJ Murray teamed for stout defense in the final 90 seconds with a sack and a blocked field goal as Georgia Southern held on for a 23-21 victory over Louisiana-Monroe in Statesboro, Ga. After falling behind by two scores, Georgia Southern (3-0) reeled off 23 consecutive points to go up 23-14 early in the fourth quarter. The Warhawks (1-2) rallied to within 23-21 on a 10-yard scoring pass from Garrett Smith to Marcus Green with 10:12 left to play. Louisiana-Monroe was driving for a potential go-ahead score when DeLaRosa dropped Smith for a loss of 10 yards and Murray made a leaping, one-handed block of the ensuing 41-yard field goal attempt with 1:16 to play. Georgia Southern gained 345 yards rushing and held the ball for 41:37. Younghoe Koo kicked three field goals. Smith's first TD pass broke Georgia Southern's streak of 155 minutes without allowing a TD, dating back to 2015. ... Elijah McGuire ran for 223 yards, including a 68-yard game-breaker, and host Louisiana-Lafayette defeated South Alabama 28-23. McGuire broke through a bunched-up defense on a third-and-1 and raced downfield to give the Ragin' Cajuns (2-1, 1-0 ) a 28-17 lead with 7:05 left. The Jaguars (1-2, 1-1) scored with 3:17 remaining on Dallas Davis' 11-yard pass to Gerald Everett but didn't get the ball back again. McGuire went over 5,000 yards total offense, moving to No. 2 on the school's career list. Anthony Jennings threw third-quarter passes of 71 yards to Al Riles and 38 to Keenan Barnes to extend the Ragin' Cajuns' lead to 22-7. Davis' 18-yarder to Grant Bell and a field goal tightened the score before McGuire's big run. Jennings finished 18 of 26 for 256 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Riles finished with 139 yards receiving. Davis was 21 of 29 with 264 yards a two scores.
Sports on 09/18/2016