A week after a fairly pedestrian performance against the San Jose State Spartans, Andrew Luck bounced back with a solid game against the Duke Blue Devils in Stanford's week two rout of the ACC doormat. Luck completed 20 of 28 passes for 290 yards, with four touchdowns and an interception and left early in the fourth quarter with the Cardinal leading 37-7. The Cardinal would go on to win 44-14.
In these first two games, Luck was looking at a situation where he wasn't going to pad his pre-season Heisman favorite status. Rather, he was simply looking to hold steady and hope some of his competition would falter. With Kellen Moore and Robert Griffin both taking full advantage of prime time audiences, the Heisman race tightened up last week.
Luck opened the game with a strong first drive as he was 4/4 for 61 yards and a touchdown as the Cardinal jumped on top 7-0 early. The offense then stalled out with a pair of three and outs followed by a field goal at the start of the second quarter. Duke made things interesting after that as a tipped Luck pass turned into a 60-yard interception return for the pick-six by Lee Butler.
Duke followed that by recovering an onside kick and they seemed ready to really rattle some cages. However, after Duke went three and out and punted, Luck completed four straight passes including a 10-yard touchdown pass to Chris Owusu to give Stanford the 17-7 lead.
The Cardinal did not look back from there as they scored touchdowns on their first three offensive drives of the second half. In the second half, Luck was 6/7 for 105 yards and two touchdowns and there was nothing Duke could do about it. Backup QB Brett Nottingham entered the game at this point and Luck now sits three touchdowns behind Jim Plunkett for third place all time at Stanford.
Luck's performance in week two was not flashy, but it was a strong showing against a weak team, which is all he can ask for in his Heisman bid. Andrew Luck and the Cardinal begin Pac-12 play next week as they travel to Tuscon to face the Arizona Wildcats. The game will air on ESPN at 7:45pm pacific next Saturday. The Wildcats were shredded this past Thursday by Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden to the tune of 397 yards.
Andrew Luck Touchdown Videos
Andrew Luck to Coby Fleener, 3-yard touchdown
Andrew Luck to Chris Owusu, 10-yard touchdown
Andrew Luck to Coby Fleener, 60-yard touchdown
Andrew Luck to Zach Ertz, 3-yard touchdown