UCLA Buries Stanford With Three Big Plays : A Blocked Punt, Norrie’s Pass and Primus’ Run Lead Bruins to 34-9 Victory

Scoring touchdowns on three big plays--a blocked punt, quarterback David Norrie’s 51-yard bomb to Willie Anderson and James Primus’ 40-yard run--UCLA romped to a 34-9 victory Saturday over Stanford.

The Bruins, 2-1 in the Pacific 10 and 4-1-1 overall, handed Stanford its fourth straight loss, leaving the Cardinal at 0-2 in the conference and 1-4 overall.

Primus, who also ran three yards for UCLA’s final TD with 3:33 left, broke open the game with a 40-yard TD run that gave UCLA a 27-9 lead with 4:40 left in the third quarter.

Primus finished with 129 yards on 29 carries.

Norrie’s 51-yarder to Anderson put UCLA ahead 20-9 midway in the third quarter after Stanford had pulled to within four, 13-9.

Stanford’s Kevin Scott returned the second-half kickoff 42 yards to UCLA’s 43, and a penalty on the play against the Bruins gave Stanford the ball on the 28. Six plays later, Morris scored on a run from the one, but David Sweeney missed the extra point.

Sweeney’s 30-yard field goal for Stanford with 59 seconds left in the second quarter cut UCLA’s halftime lead to 13-3 after John Lee’s second field goal, a 26-yarder, gave UCLA a 13-0 advantage.

UCLA safety Darryl Henley, brother of Stanford tailback Thomas Henley, blocked Doug Robison’s punt from the goal line to set up the Bruins’ only TD of the first half. Josh Shinnick picked up the ball on the two and ran it in to give UCLA a 10-0 lead at 9:55 of the first quarter.

Lee’s 38-yard field goal opened the scoring for UCLA after Ken Norton intercepted John Paye on the Bruins’ eight and ran back to the 40. The pickoff ended a string of eight straight completions by Paye on his opening series march from the Stanford 16 to the UCLA 13.

Paye finished his worst passing game of the year with 179 yards on 30 completions in 44 attempts. Norrie was 12 for 23 and 167 yards.

Stanford’s top receiver and rusher, fullback Brad Muster, left the game with bruised ribs early in the second quarter and didn’t return. Muster was hobbled last week by a hip bruise.

UCLA played without two of its top players, split end Mike Sherrard and tailback Gaston Green. Quarterback Matt Stevens, recovering from an injury, came in with less than two minutes left.