Stanford and Luck Pull Out a Victory

A Stanford team that hadn’t trailed all season required 3 overtimes Saturday night to stay unbeaten. Stepfan Taylor scored on a 5-yard run and Andrew Luck connected with Coby Fleener for the 2-point conversion because the Cardinal eked by Southern California, 56-48.

U.S.C. had an opportunity to increase the sport, however Curtis McNeal fumbled and Terrence Stephens recovered the ball within the finish zone to seal the victory for Stanford, that extended its string of victories to sixteen, the longest active winning streak within the country.

Stanford and Luck Pull Out a Victory

Image via Wikipedia

Luck, the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy, finished with 302 yards passing. He was at his best when the chips were down, finishing sixteen of twenty-two passes within the third and fourth quarters when the Cardinal were clawing back from deficits. 

Luck completed his initial 5 passes — together with a 10-yard score to Tyler Gaffney — as Stanford marched eighty three yards on their gap drive to require a 7-0 lead. He cooled off at that time, misfiring on four of his last nine passes within the initial 0.5. Credit the Trojans’ defensive position, that was running stunts that had their meant impact of stumping Luck, who handles the Cardinal’s play calling.

Barkley passed for 127 yards within the initial 0.5 to Luck’s ninety nine, however he additionally threw an interception that led to a Cardinal field goal as Stanford took a 10-6 lead into intermission.

The Trojans ran the ball seven times for sixteen yards within the initial 0.5. within the third quarter, Curtis McNeal got U.S.C.’s running game out of initial gear and into overdrive with consecutive scoring runs of sixty one and twenty five yards to assist the Trojans to a 20-10 lead.

Stanford and Luck Pull Out a Victory

Image via Wikipedia

An unruffled Luck showed the Coliseum crowd of ninety three,607 why fans of downtrodden N.F.L. franchises just like the Miami Dolphins are rooting for his or her groups to lose so that they will earn the No. one choose to draft him. In one stretch within the second 0.5, he completed ten consecutive passes. By the top of the third quarter, Luck had thrown for one touchdown and run for an additional to place the Cardinal back on prime, 24-20.

The Trojans regained the lead within the second minute of the fourth quarter on a 28-yard pass from Barkley to Marquis Lee. Stanford tied the score at 27-27 on a 29-yard field goal by Eric Whitaker, and then seemed to lose it on a rare mistake by Luck.

With a bit over 3 minutes remaining within the fourth quarter, Luck threw his fourth interception of the season, to cornerback Nickell Robey, who came it thirty two yards for the score.

Bowed however not broken, Luck marched the Cardinal seventy six yards in ten plays. With time running out in regulation, Taylor scored on a 2-yard run to tie the score at 34-34 and force overtime.