Stanford Has Inside Track

With a little help from UCLA, Stanford is back in control of the Pacific 10 race, just one victory away from its first Rose Bowl trip in 28 years.

Todd Husak threw four touchdown passes as the Cardinal beat Arizona State, 50-30, Saturday.

With Washington’s overtime loss at UCLA, Stanford, 6-3 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-10, took over first place in the conference.

The Cardinal, which hasn’t been to the Rose Bowl since the 1971 season, plays California on Saturday.

“You can’t ask for anything else,” said Troy Walters, who caught seven passes for 127 yards, including a 27-yarder for Stanford’s final touchdown. “The Big Game will truly be bigger because the Rose Bowl is on the line.”

Husak said his team, which hadn’t played since its loss to Washington two weeks earlier, was ready to play regardless of what happened in the UCLA-Washington game.

“Hearing the news did pump us up a little,” he said, “but we didn’t hear it until we were up 21-3.”

Husak completed 20 of 35 attempts for 311 yards and passed the 6,000-yard mark for his career and moved up to No. 5 on Stanford’s career passing list. His touchdown passes went to four receivers and all of his passing yardage came in the first three quarters.

“Our offense came out from the get-go,” Husak said. “We had the momentum going from the start. When we click like that, we’re tough to beat.”

Stanford’s Dave Davis caught a 58-yard touchdown pass, returned a kickoff 60 yards to set up a field goal and blocked an Arizona State field-goal try, all in the first half.

Arizona State (5-5, 4-3) had five turnovers.