PASADENA, Calif. – After failing to find the end zone in the first three quarters, No. 7 Stanford struck for two touchdowns in the last 24 seconds to stun UCLA, 22-13 on Saturday night in the Rose Bowl.
It was the ninth-consecutive victory for the Cardinal (3-0, 2-0) against the Bruins (2-2, 0-1).
Trailing 13-9 with 2:05 left and no timeouts, senior quarterback Ryan Burns drove Stanford from its 30-yard line to the UCLA 8. With 31 seconds remaining, he lobbed a perfectly thrown pass in the front-left side of the end zone to 6-foot-3 sophomore JJ Arcega-Whiteside, who outjumped a Bruin defender and kept one foot in bounds for the game-winner with 20 seconds to play.
"He was incredible," running back Christian McCaffrey said of Burns, who made his third career start and first on the road. "He got us in the right plays and put the ball in the right places."
UCLA had one last gasp, but linebacker Joey Alfieri sacked quarterback Josh Rosen and forced a fumble, and defensive lineman Solomon Thomas returned it 42 yards for his second career touchdown to cap the win.
McCaffrey surpassed 100 yards rushing for the fifth straight game, but earned every one against a physical and stacked Bruin defense. He finished with 138 yards on 26 carries, but his longest run was 13.
"Coach (Jim) More and is staff did an incredible job," said David Shaw, the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football. "They kicked our backsides pretty well early and often."
Saving his best for last, Burns completed 13 of 25 passes for 137 yards, with sophomore wide receiver Trenton Irwin collecting seven for 81 yards, both career highs.
Stanford started slowly and hurt itself with mistakes and penalties. Shaw stuck with his tried and true formula of pounding the football and relied on his defense to keep the game close at the end.
Down 13-9 with 2:59 to play and faced with a fourth and 1 at his own 39, Shaw elected to punt. Earlier in the day, he had a discussion with his wife, Kori, about the exact same scenario.
"You punt every time," he said.
The defense came through, making a key third down stop to force a punt. The Cardinal caught a break when a UCLA defender bumped McCaffrey after a fair catch signal, the 15-yard penalty moving the ball to the 30.
On UCLA's prior possession, fifth-year safety Zach Hoffpauir made a key stop on fourth and 2 at the Stanford 30 to stop a potential Bruin scoring drive.
Burns and the offense did the rest. Irwin made three catches on the final drive, Arcega-Whiteside two. Running out of the Wildcat, McCaffrey willed his way for a first down on third and 3 to the UCLA 12. This, despite the absence of fullback Daniel Marx, who was injured early in the fourth quarter.
"Ryan was cool and claim," said Shaw. "Our receivers and offensive line came up big time."
Shaw loves to recruit tall, athletic receivers for situations like the final minute. Arcega-White was an all-state basketball player at Dorman High in South Carolina and his parents played professionally overseas.
"We just put JJ out there one-on-one," he said. "He's a big receiver with a ridiculous vertical leap."
Burns welcome the late game challenge with the clutch 2:00 drill.
"We practice it every Monday," he said.
In the first half, Stanford was outplayed on both sides of the ball. UCLA set the tone, as the Cardinal found no rhythm on offense.
After taking a 3-0 lead on its first possession when Pasadena native Conrad Ukropina drilled a 37-yard field, Stanford stalled the rest of the half.
UCLA linebacker Kenny Young set up the half's only touchdown by intercepting a Burns over the middle and returned it 40 yards to the Cardinal 31. Rosen capitalized, finding tight end Nate Iese for a 10-yard scoring pass on third and 5 to give the Bruins a 7-3 advantage.
It marked the first touchdown allowed by the Stanford defense in the opening half this season and the first time the team has trailed.
As planned, backup quarterback Keller Chyrst replaced Burns on the third offensive series late in the first quarter. He threw a strike to tight end Dalton Schultz early in the second quarter on third and 10 and would have produced a first down, but was rocked by cornerback Tahaan Goodman and couldn't hold on.
Schultz absorbed another jarring tackle but remained in the game. However, starting cornerbacks Alijah Holder and Quenton Meeks each departed with injuries and did not play in the second half, giving way to battle-tested backups Alameen Murphy and Terrence Alexander.
Midway through the stanza, Burns mounted a march and hit wide receiver Francis Owusu for what would have been a first down on third and 15 deep in UCLA territory. But Goodman crushed Owusu with what appeared to helmet-helmet contact and the play was ruled a catch and fumble.
After a press box review, an incensed Shaw appealed to the officials for a targeting call, but to no avail. A woozy Owusu was assisted off the field and taken to the locker room and did not return.
Shaw called the play "questionable" and will watch the film before commenting further.
UCLA capitalized again, hurting the Cardinal with the run and pass. Rosen drove the Bruins to the Stanford 10, where Murphy made a nice play on third and 8 to knock the ball away from tight end, the Bruins settling for a 27-yard field goal from JJ Molson.
UCLA limited McCaffrey to 59 yards rushing, controlling the line of scrimmage. Running back Bryce Love, who missed the opener against Kansas State with an injury and played last week against USC, had only two carries.
Thomas was a bright spot on defense, making several plays in the backfield including a sack.
The third quarter was a defensive struggle, with Stanford scoring the only points on a 37-yard field goal by Ukropina. Key play on the drive was a 20-yard end run by Love after a fake handoff to McCaffrey.
Late in the quarter, UCLA mounted a drive and reached the Cardinal 33, where it faced fourth and 4. The Bruins went for it, but Rosen was sacked by nose tackle Harrison Phillips, who returned to the starting lineup after missing the USC game with an injury.
Stanford continued to run with McCaffrey and Love, collecting several first downs to reach the UCLA 27. But on third and 5, Burns was pressured and threw incomplete, and Ukropina booted a 44-yard field goal to cut the Bruin lead to 10-9 with 10:55 remaining.
Ukropina is six-for-six on the season. In addition, punter Jake Bailey averaged 47.3 on three attempts and three of his five kickoffs went for touchbacks.
"It says a lot about the character of our football team," said Shaw. "We took a lot of body blows and had a lot of guys go down. Everybody stepped up and played well."
McCaffrey knows Stanford will need an improved all-round performance next Friday night in another nationally-televised game at Washington.
"We were hurting ourselves," he said. "We have to do a better job of honing in on the details."