It’s only 10-0 and it’s only the first quarter, but Stanford is looking to handle their business against Cal early. Cal has won seven of the last eight Big Games but might be giving up the axe if they don’t figure out some sort of offense. After scoring a field goal following a fumble, Stanford picked off a Brock Mansion pass on their own 5 yard line and then marched down the field for a touchdown.
The biggest play of the Stanford scoring drive was a 58 yard scramble by QB Andrew Luck. The play came on 2nd and 11 on the Stanford 21 as Luck moved up in the pocket and eventually took off when he could find no receivers. He took a couple hits but showed his physical power in continuing to rumble down the field. The Cardinal then benefited from a pass interference call and wrapped up the touchdown with a Stepfan Taylor 4-yard rush.
Cal had a nice little drive going prior to that as they had moved 41 yards primarily on rushes. Mansion completed two passes on the drive before the poor pass deep in Stanford territory. The Bears offense needs to step up if they want to make the Big Game a bit more competitive.