California Takes Pass to Rout Arizona State

Any quarterback would like California’s game plan for Arizona State -- isolate receivers such as Geoff McArthur in single coverage and throw deep. Aaron Rodgers was no exception.

“We wanted to throw the ball down the field, and we were able to do that,” Rodgers said as Cal routed the Sun Devils, 51-23, Saturday at Tempe, Ariz. “A good rushing game also helped. We got both things going early.”

Rodgers threw for 307 yards and three touchdowns, and Adimchinobe Echemandu became the 10th California runner to have a 1,000-yard season.

Rodgers had scoring passes of 43 yards to Geoff McArthur, five to Burl Toler and eight to Vincent Strang.

He also went a third consecutive game without an interception, running his streak to 79 passes in a 17-for-22 performance.

“When you stop yourself, it’s hard,” McArthur said. “But when you go out there and perform and execute, that’s when you drive the ball like we did.”

Echemandu had a career-high 201 yards last week. This time, he gained 128 yards in 21 carries, scoring on runs of three and two yards, and has 1,009 yards this season.

J.J. Arrington had a 24-yard scoring run and Tyler Fredrickson kicked three field goals for the Bears, who improved to 5-5 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

Geoff McArthur also hit a milestone in the Bears’ biggest offensive showing since beating Arizona State, 55-38, last season. He had four catches for 160 yards, reaching 1,037 yards for the season -- fourth-best in school history.

Cal scored 30 unanswered points after Arizona State trimmed its deficit to 21-17 on a two-yard run by Loren Wade with 9:32 left in the second quarter.

“There’s no way to sugar-coat it,” Arizona State Coach Dirk Koetter said. “We got our butt kicked in every phase. It’s pathetic.”

He said the fact that quarterback Andrew Walter wasn’t 100% was no excuse.

Walter, who ignored sprained ligaments in his right ankle to start for the Sun Devils (4-5, 1-4), threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Skyler Fulton before the swelling and pain forced him out after three quarters.

Walter was 11 of 26 for 170 yards but was intercepted twice.

The Bears had a season-high 41 points in the first half.

Oregon State 52, Arizona 23 -- Derek Anderson threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns and Steven Jackson caught a touchdown pass and ran for three more to lead the Beavers (6-3, 3-2) over the Wildcats (1-8, 0-5) at Corvallis, Ore.

Jackson, the Pac-10’s leading rusher, ran for 107 yards in 28 carries, his 17th career 100-yard game. It was his first career four-touchdown game.

The Beavers rolled up 426 yards of total offense to end a two-game losing streak.

Arizona managed only 232 yards and lost for the eighth consecutive time.

Anderson, who completed 21 of 32 passes with no interceptions, had touchdown passes to Jackson, James Newson, Mike Hass and Tim Euhus.

Washington 42, Oregon 10 -- Reserve quarterback Casey Paus threw two second-half passes for touchdowns and redshirt freshman tailbacks Kenny James and Shelton Sampson combined for 235 yards rushing to lead the Huskies (5-4, 3-2) over the Ducks (5-4, 2-3) at Seattle.

Sampson carried for 131 yards and three touchdowns in only six carries, highlighted by a 77-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter that put the Huskies ahead 42-10.

James ran for 104 yards in 18 carries.

Paus, the younger brother of former UCLA quarterback Cory Paus, was five for eight for 117 yards. He opened the third quarter after Cody Pickett was sidelined because of a blow to the head in the first half.