Arizona Clamps Down on Stanford : Pacific 10: Wildcats get eight sacks, limit Cardinal to minus 33 yards rushing in 21-6 win.

Arizona’s defense grounded Stanford’s offense by keeping its quarterbacks on the ground.

The Wildcats racked up eight sacks and forced a key fumble on the one-yard line to upset No. 8 Stanford, 21-6, Saturday.

“That’s what we wanted to do, put pressure on them. We couldn’t just let them sit back there or they would pick us apart,” said Arizona defensive end Tedy Bruschi, who helped swing the game in Arizona’s favor by forcing the crucial fumble from backup quarterback Mark Butterfield.

“We are for real. We were on a high two weeks ago against UCLA and now this win here, we just want to take it higher and higher, get better every week.”

Arizona, 3-2-1 overall and 2-1-1 in the Pac-10, has hit its stride since being tied, 14-14, by Oregon State, the week before a near-miss against then top-ranked Miami.

The Wildcats, who pushed Miami to the brink before losing, 8-7, on Sept. 26 and then beat UCLA two weeks ago, never gave Stanford’s offense a chance to get going. That allowed Arizona’s running game to wear down Stanford’s defense, top-ranked in the Pacific 10.

“We were beaten rather soundly today,” said Stanford Coach Bill Walsh, who saw his starting quarterback, Steve Stenstrom, forced from the game three times by Arizona’s punishing defense.

“Arizona demonstrated a lot more speed and we didn’t cope with it. The offensive line had problems with their quickness.”

Arizona piled up 256 yards rushing, with Ontiwaun Carter gaining 97 yards in 20 carries. Billy Johnson had 80 yards in 12 carries and Chuck Levy had 72 in 15.

“Our start wasn’t what we wanted so we’ve been striving to gain some recognition,” Arizona Coach Dick Tomey said. “I think we’ll get it now.”

Bruschi helped swing the game in Arizona’s favor when he stripped the ball from Butterfield as he cocked his arm to throw. Bruschi recovered the fumble at the Stanford one, and quarterback George Malauulu went into the end zone on a keeper on the next play to give Arizona a 7-6 lead at 10:09 of the second quarter.

Levy took a pitch and went 45 yards for a score that put Arizona in front, 14-6, at halftime. Johnson had a 33-yard run with 10 minutes remaining in the third.

The Wildcats’ defense, ranked second in the Pac-10, sacked starter Stenstrom and Butterfield eight times. Running back Glyn Milburn, averaging just under 100 yards rushing per game, was limited to six yards in six carries.

Stanford netted minus 33 yards rushing, its lowest total since the school started keeping records during the 1955 season. Its previous low was minus 16 against USC on Oct. 7, 1972.

“When they took apart our running game early, we were doomed,” Walsh said.

Though forced out of the game three times, Stenstrom returned each time and was on the field at the finish.

He missed all of the second quarter and the final three minutes of the first after suffering a concussion when spun to the ground and sacked by nose guard Rob Waldrop. The back of Stenstrom’s head hit the knee of Bruschi, who had come in to assist Waldrop.

Stenstrom spent nearly 10 minutes on the ground and a stretcher was wheeled out but he managed to stagger to the sidelines, leaning on two members of the Stanford staff for assistance.

Butterfield, who had attempted only three passes all season, came on for Stenstrom. At the time, Stanford was holding a 6-0 lead on field goals of 38 and 39 yards by Eric Abrams.

Stenstrom started the second half but was forced to leave again briefly after taking hits during the third and fourth quarters.