PACIFIC 10 ROUNDUP : Sun Devils Romp, 41-0, as Cal Hits a New Low

California has apparently fallen apart.

The Golden Bears, losing their third game in a row, were routed by Arizona State, 41-0, Saturday night in a Pacific 10 game at Tempe, Ariz.

California, which opened its season with a 27-25 victory over UCLA and then won its next four games before losing to Washington, 24-23, has lost its last three games by a combined score of 117-21.

Saturday night’s game began as a defensive struggle and turned into a one-sided track meet for Arizona State, 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-10.

Arizona State freshman Jake Plummer passed for 265 yards, throwing four-yard touchdown passes to Johnny Thomas and Parnell Charles. Thomas and Charles also ran for touchdowns.

Thomas, a wide receiver, took a handoff from Mario Bates and raced down the left sideline for a 68-yard touchdown run, and Charles got loose off-tackle and bulled over a defender on his way to a 38-yard touchdown run.

Mark Brown, Eddie Cade and Jason Kyle intercepted passes for the Sun Devils, who play UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

The Bears (5-4, 2-4) drove to the Arizona State 20-yard line midway through the fourth quarter, but Cade intercepted a Dave Barr pass in the end zone to kill the threat.

No. 14 Arizona 31, Oregon 10--With tailback Chuck Levy filling in at quarterback, the Wildcats stayed on the ground, not completing one pass, to beat the Ducks at Tucson and stay alive in the Rose Bowl race.

In the first half, Levy ran for three touchdowns on long drives--throwing only once--as Arizona (8-1, 5-1) built a 21-0 lead.

What would have been his fourth touchdown--on a 24-yard run--was nullified by a fourth-quarter penalty.

Levy finished with 126 rushing yards in 27 carries and Arizona had 389 total yards--all rushing, with only one pass attempted.

With drop-back quarterbacks Dan White and Brady Batten sidelined by injuries, Arizona Coach Dick Tomey turned to Levy. The junior hadn’t operated an option offense for the Wildcats since his redshirt freshman season in 1991, when he started the final four games at quarterback--also out of necessity.

Ontiwaun Carter also had a big game against Oregon, carrying 29 times for 127 yards and scoring on a four-yard run with 1:03 left.

Oregon (5-4, 2-4) could neither get its own offense going nor stop Arizona’s in the first half. The Ducks finished with 269 total yards, 10 of them rushing.

Arizona finished its first perfect home season (6-0) since 1961.

Washington 28, Oregon State 21--At halftime, the Huskies were down 14-3 against Oregon State, a team that had beaten them only once since 1974. But they came back for a victory at Corvallis, Ore.

Washington (6-3, 4-2) scored three touchdowns in a 3 1/2-minute stretch in the second half to beat the Beavers for the 16th time in the last 17 tries.

J.J. Young rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns for the Beavers (3-7, 1-6), but he had only 27 yards in the second half.