Nov 1, 2003
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By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
STANFORD, Calif. - Chris Lewis passed for one touchdown and ran foranother and inexperienced Stanford stunned UCLA by sending the Bruins to theirfirst conference loss, 21-14 Saturday.
This was a monumental win for the Cardinal, who were humiliated last week atOregon 35-0, and the biggest victory yet in coach Buddy Teevens' two-yeartenure.
Stanford (3-4, 1-4 Pac-10) did it by playing the complete game it had beendesperately looking for - with strong performances on offense, defense andspecial teams. Lewis, a fifth-year senior, played with poise as a fill-in forinjured freshman quarterback Trent Edwards.
Lewis went 12-of-20 for 91 yards with an interception.
Luke Powell sparked the upset when he snapped a 7-all tie with a 90-yardpunt return for a touchdown 2:28 before halftime.
This week, Teevens predicted that a breakthrough win was coming soon for theCardinal, saying his players have remained confident despite the frustratingresults. But this didn't seem like the week Stanford would do it, consideringUCLA's latest defensive success.
But the Bruins defense that has been spectacular in recent weeks wasupstaged by Stanford's defense and several big plays by the Cardinal, who hadtheir second-best scoring output of the season and huddled at midfield afterthe win.
Stanford's effective blitzing scheme kept constant pressure on quarterbackMatt Moore, who sat on the grass on both knees in frustration for severalseconds after one long pass sailed well beyond his intended receiver. UCLA(6-3, 4-1) went to backup Drew Olson midway through the fourth quarter.
Olson led a scoring drive capped by Maurice Drew's second rushing TD of thegame, a 2-yard run with 5:28 left, but the comeback effort fell short.
The Cardinal had eight sacks, three shy of the 11 they had all season cominginto the game.
When Stanford punted late in the third, the ball hit off a UCLA player's legand the Cardinal's Marcus McCutcheon - the son of former Los Angeles Ramsrunning back Lawrence McCutcheon - recovered on the UCLA 8, giving Stanfordgreat field position that led to Lewis' 1-yard scoring run with 1 second leftin the quarter.
That was one of several costly plays for UCLA, which would have maintainedfirst place in the Pac-10 with a win and also likely earned a top-25 ranking.
Stanford had allowed 51 points in the first quarter in its previous sixgames, but the Bruins didn't score until Drew's 9-yard TD run 57 seconds intothe second quarter for a 7-0 lead.
That's when Stanford's vapid offense began to show signs of life for thefirst time in two games. Stanford had only 206 yard of offense but held UCLA to287.
After failing on seven plays from the 2-yard line last week, Teevens gotcreative and went away from his conservative play calling in the red zone togive his team a better chance.
On third down, Lewis had three players lined up behind him to form an "I"- a tight end and two running backs. Lewis then found Matt Traverso wide openin the end zone for a 2-yard TD reception that tied the game at 7 with 9:06left in the second quarter.
Powell's big run was the second-longest punt return for a touchdown inschool history. Thomas Henley returned one 92 yards against Oregon in 1986.