Ayoob Is No Fluke in California’s Rout

Take away his first pass Saturday, and Joe Ayoob matched the hype that accompanied his arrival at California.

Ayoob was intercepted on his first throw but overcame the shaky start to throw four first-half touchdown passes, leading No. 16 California to a 56-17 rout of Washington in the Pacific 10 Conference opener at Seattle.

Ayoob missed on his first three throws, but then quickly erased from memory last week’s 0-for-10 debut against Division I-AA Sacramento State.

“There was a lot of hype around me coming in, and I felt I didn’t prove myself,” Ayoob said. “I wanted to prove myself to everybody and show the guys what kind of football player I am.”

With Washington’s defense focusing on stopping Cal’s running game, Ayoob picked apart the Husky secondary.

He completed 17 of 27 passes for 271 yards. He attempted only seven passes in the second half after throwing for 227 yards in the first two quarters. The 56 points were the most ever given up by Washington at Husky Stadium.

Cal (2-0, 1-0) has won four in a row over Washington (0-2, 0-1) for the first time since 1973 to ’76.

Stanford 41, Navy 38 -- The Cardinal won its opener under Coach Walt Harris, using a fine performance by quarterback Trent Edwards to outlast the Midshipmen (0-2) at Annapolis, Md.

Harris, who spent the past eight years at Pittsburgh, is seeking to turn around a program coming off three straight losing seasons. The Cardinal lost its last five games in 2004, but is 1-0 under Harris because of Edwards, who completed 21 of 33 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown.

T.J. Rushing returned a kickoff 93 yards for a score to help Stanford in the first meeting between the teams since 1965.

Oregon State 30, Boise State 27 -- Alexis Serna kicked a 29-yard field goal with 1:03 to go and the Beavers (2-0) came from behind to beat the Broncos (0-2) under stormy skies at Corvallis, Ore.

Boise State had a 24-14 lead early in the second half, but Oregon State tied it at 27-27 early in the fourth quarter when Mike Hass caught a 22-yard scoring pass from Matt Moore.

Moore, a former UCLA quarterback, completed 27 of 38 passes for 279 yards. Hass had 11 catches for 178 yards.

Oregon 47, Montana 14 -- Kellen Clemens threw for 275 yards, and Paul Martinez tied a school record with six field goals to lead the Ducks (2-0) over the Division I-AA Grizzlies (1-1) at Eugene, Ore.

Demetrius Williams had five catches for 93 yards and a touchdown, and nine other Ducks caught passes, but Oregon failed to establish a running game for the second straight week.

Arizona 31, Northern Arizona 12 -- Richard Kovalcheck tied a career high with 255 passing yards and Mike Bell had 122 rushing yards to lead the Wildcats (1-1) over the Lumberjacks (1-1) at Tucson. Kovalcheck completed 19 of 31 passes and had two touchdown passes.