Stanford overcomes red-zone troubles to beat Washington, 20-13

Kevin Hogan ran for a five-yard touchdown with 4:29 remaining, and No. 16 Stanford took advantage of a poorly timed fake punt to hold off Washington, 20-13, on Saturday at Washington.

Hogan and the Cardinal avoided a potentially costly 0-2 start in Pac-12 play after already losing at home to USC.

Stanford dominated statistically but was still tied midway through the fourth quarter because of problems in the red zone. That’s when Washington Coach Chris Petersen took a gamble by running a fake punt on fourth and nine at its own 47. The play was stuffed and Hogan scored on the ensuing possession.

Six times the Cardinal drove inside the Washington 30, but a missed field goal and fumble by Hogan never let Stanford pull away. The Cardinal committed three turnovers, including Remound Wright’s fumble late in the second quarter that Shaq Thompson returned 32 yards for a touchdown to pull the Huskies even at 13.

But Stanford escaped Seattle in its first road game and heads to Notre Dame next week. Hogan was 17-for-26 passing for 178 yards and added 53 yards rushing. Ty Montgomery had a 62-yard kickoff return to start the game and added a 17-yard touchdown reception, bulling through three Washington defenders.

In other games:

at California 59, Colorado 56: Jared Goff threw seven passes for touchdowns and the Golden Bears used a rare defensive stop and a 34-yard field goal in double overtime from James Langford to snap a 15-game Pac-12 losing streak.

Colorado’s Sefo Liufau also threw seven passes for touchdowns and the teams combined for more than 1,200 yards offense. Colorado could not punch it in after having first and goal from the two-yard line to open the second overtime, as Cal stopped four straight running plays capped by Jalen Jefferson knocking Liufau for a three-yard loss on fourth down from the one.

Cal failed to get a first down on its possession, but Langford came on and calmly drilled the kick that gave the Bears their first conference win since beating Washington State on Oct. 13, 2012. Goff finished 23 for 41 for 449 yards, hitting Bryce Treggs on a 25-yard score on the first possession of overtime.

Liufau was just as prolific, going 46 for 67 for 449 yards, including a 25-yard score to Nelson Spruce that tied the game after one overtime. Spruce finished with 19 catches for 176 yards and three touchdowns.

Goff and Liufau traded big plays down the stretch with each throwing a pair of touchdown passes in the final 3:23 of regulation to send the game to overtime.

Washington State 28, at Utah 27: Connor Halliday connected with Vince Mayle on an 81-yard pass play with 4:48 left to give the Cougars, who trailed by 17 points at one time, the go-ahead touchdown.

Rain fell steadily throughout but Halliday heated up in the second half, throwing for 267 yards in the final two quarters and the WSU defense came up with key stops to give the Cougars (2-3, 1-1 Pac-12) a big road victory.

On a drive they started on their own 8, Halliday connected with Mayle in full stride across the middle. Mayle, who had eight receptions for 120 yards, sped untouched 81 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 4:58 remaining.

On the ensuing possession, the Utes (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) converted one fourth down on a Devontae Booker run but Charleston White broke up a long pass to give the ball back to the Cougars at the WSU 49 with 2:30 play.

Aided by two timeouts, the Utah defense held and the Cougars punted after consuming just 1:04. Again, White broke up a fourth-down pass intended for receiver Dres Anderson, who didn’t have a catch after compiling 252 in the first three games.

In stark contrast to Halliday, Utah’s Travis Wilson completed 18 of 38 passes for 165 and consistently overthrew receivers or rifled the ball too hard. Booker rushed 24 times for 178 yards but the Cougars outgained the Utes 495-357.