Stanford Shuts Out UCLA, 35-0, Moves Up To 19th in Top 25

The Cardinal safety was rewarded for his excellent performance, including recovering a fumble for a touchdown.

Junior safety Michael Thomas has been named the Pac-10 Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week for his outstanding performance in Stanford’s 35-0 victory at UCLA this past Saturday.

Thomas finished the game with five total tackles and two forced fumbles, including one he returned 21 yards for a touchdown that gave Stanford a 28-0 at the end of the third quarter. He also forced a Randall Carroll fumble at the 8:45 mark of the second quarter.

The Cardinal clearly established themselves as one of the preeminent Pac-10 contenders in their romp in Pasadena. Voters rewarded them with the third highest ranking among Pac-10 schools in both top 25 rankings. Stanford was 25th in last week’s AP Poll and unranked in the Coaches Poll.

They finished behind Oregon in both polls (where they were ranked 5th and 6th), Arizona in the Coaches (18th) and USC in the AP Poll (18th—USC is ineligible to receive votes from the Coaches Poll because of their bowl probation).

The Cardinal won the Pac-10 opener with relative ease, wearing down the Bruins, Ted Miller of ESPN’s Pac-10 coverage was at the Rose Bowl with the report.

UCLA’s defense was game most of the night, but it wore down in the second half because the Bruins offense is simply lost.

The new “pistol” is firing blanks (I know, that’s a bad one). Quarterback Kevin Prince, who’s missed nearly every practice this season due to injury, only completed 6 of 12 passes for 39 yards before being yanked for Richard Brehaut at the start of the fourth. Prince threw an interception and his fumble was returned 21 yards for a TD.

Stanford wasn’t great. Quarterback Andrew Luck only completed 11 of 24 passes (two TDs). His running — 63 yards on 7 carries — was better than his passing.

The Cardinal conducted a 16 play, 68 yard, 9 minute drive on their first offensive possession in the second half, capping it off with Owen Marecic’s 1 yard run.

Kevin Prince then tried running on the next possession, only to get stripped by Chase Thomas who returned it for a practically game-clinching score. Prince was then benched for Richard Brehaut.

The Cardinal have gotten an early Andrew Luck touchdown throw to give them a 7-0 lead. But thanks to two crucial UCLA defensive stops inside the five yard line, they’ve had to settle for two Nate Whitaker field goals, keeping the Bruins within shooting distance.

UCLA’s offense has struggled to get going though, managing only 29 passing yards from Kevin Prince and 105 total yards overall. Two bad turnovers in Stanford territory have not helped their cause.

They could play against UCLA. They also could not play. Yeah, real helpful there. Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury News tweets.

More Stanford fb: Shayne Skov, Chris Owusu and Jeremy Stewart are “day to day” according to Jim Harbaugh. That could be code for they’re out

The UCLA starting quarterback has suffered from shoulder and back issues, but it’s looking like he will get the nod, Adam May of the OC Register reports.

Coach Rick Neuheisel confirmed after Thursday’s practice that Prince will get the nod, though the third-year sophomore remained on a pitch count for the second consecutive day.

“He’ll be ready to go,” Neuheisel said.

Prince, who has been held back since banging a shoulder on Tuesday, looked aggressive Thursday when he wasn’t splitting first-team repetitions with No. 2 quarterback Richard Brehaut.

Apparently, the Cardinal can't replicate Toby Gerhart, but their returning offensive linemen are so good that any of the tailbacks for the Cardinal can run like him.

Do five running backs — Usua Amanam, Tyler Gaffney, Anthony Wilkerson, Jeremy Stewart and Stepfan Taylor — add up to one Gerhart? One game against an overmatched foe is not enough of a representative sampling to know for certain, but Harbaugh said he wouldn't be changing the game plan Saturday night when the Cardinal plays UCLA at the Rose Bowl in the Pacific 10 Conference opener for both teams.

"We're prepared to play the talented guys, and if one guy rises up and is the lone carrier of the ball, then that's the way we'll play," Harbaugh said. "[But] if you want me to make a prediction, it's probably going to be like it is now."

No running back carried more than eight times or gained more than 50 yards against Sacramento State, but the Cardinal still wound up with 213 yards on the ground.

This does not bode well for a UCLA team that was gashed for 313 yards last week by the Kansas State Wildcats.