Not Even The Genius Can Solve This Slump : Pac-10: Arizona State hands Stanford its fourth loss in a row, 38-30. It is Walsh’s worst streak.

Mario Bates ran for two touchdowns as part of an 18-point fourth quarter and Arizona State rallied past Stanford, 38-30, Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak and extend the Cardinal’s worst stretch under Bill Walsh.

Stanford (2-5, 0-4 Pac-10) lost its fourth in a row, the longest losing streak ever for a Walsh-coached team at Stanford. Walsh, a three-time Super Bowl winner while coaching the San Francisco 49ers, coached at Stanford in 1977 and 1978 and returned for a second tour prior to last season.

“This reminds me of 1979,” said Walsh, who went 2-14 in that first season as coach of the 49ers. “I had the same explanations. I pulled them out of the file. We’re not down and out. We’ll come back with a lot of enthusiasm.”

For Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder, it was his first victory against Stanford in six tries. He went 0-4-1 at California.

“I never really focused on Stanford this week because of all the things we had to cover,” Snyder said. “We had so many issues ourselves. If we were 5-1 or 6-0 maybe it would have been more important.”

Bates rushed 37 times for 127 yards and George Montgomery added 100 yards in 16 carries for the Sun Devils. Freshman Jake Plummer completed 11 of 22 throws for 200 yards and a touchdown in his first victory as a starter.

Stanford’s Steve Stenstrom had his sixth consecutive 300-yard passing game, completing 23 of 37 for 328 yards and three touchdowns. But his only interception led to Bates’ second scoring run.