College football: Stanford wins 9th straight Big Game, 23-13 over California; No. 23 Iowa State survives FCS Drake

Cameron Scarlett caught a short pass from K.J. Costello and raced 46 yards for one of his two touchdowns, Paulson Adebo intercepted two passes and Stanford relied on its defense to win its ninth straight Big Game, 23-13 over California on Saturday.

The Cardinal (8-4, 6-3 Pacific 12) scored on their first two drives of the game to take a 10-0 lead on Scarlett’s first score and held on against the Golden Bears (7-5, 4-5) to extend the longest winning streak in the series that began in 1892.

Adebo made a spectacular one-handed interception in the end zone to preserve the lead in the fourth quarter for the Cardinal. He added another interception late in the quarter that he returned to the 3-yard line that set up Scarlett’s second score and helped Stanford keep The Axe for another year.

at No. 23 Iowa State 27, Drake 24: Iowa State insisted on playing 12 games, cycling through a pair of FCS opponents before settling on tiny Drake.

That decision nearly resulted in the most embarrassing loss in school history.

David Montgomery ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns and No. 24 Iowa State survived a near-upset by the non-scholarship Bulldogs on Saturday, winning 27-24.

Brock Purdy had 153 yards passing and a TD and ran for another score for the Cyclones (8-4), who fought through persistent rain and a muddy, torn-up field for their seventh win in eight games.

It hardly felt like a victory, though, against a team that agreed to play this makeup game only two weeks ago, and Iowa State coach Matt Campbell blamed the close call on execution instead of effort.

at North Carolina State 58, East Carolina 3: Reggie Gallaspy Jr. ran for 220 yards and two touchdowns to set a program single-season TD record and help North Carolina State beat East Carolina 58-3 on Saturday.

N.C. State scored on its first four possessions to lead 24-0 by early in the second quarter and never looked back.

The Wolfpack (9-3) finished with 655 yards. Gallaspy took care of the ground work and hit 19 total touchdowns this season, while Ryan Finley threw for 409 yards and three scores to lead a passing attack that included a big day for Jakobi Meyers with 13 catches for 163 yards and a TD.

at South Carolina 28, Akron 3: Deebo Samuel caught two touchdown passes and recovered a bad snap on a punt in the end zone for another score as South Carolina beat Akron 28-3 on Saturday.

The Gamecocks (7-5) were playing a low-stakes game on a rainy, cold December afternoon to make up for one canceled by Hurricane Florence against the Zips (4-8), whose opener at Nebraska was cancelled by thunderstorms.

It was a sloppy game. South Carolina had four turnovers — two of them red zone interceptions by Jake Bentley — and Akron had six fumbles, losing three of them. In 17 second-half drives, 10 ended in punts, four ended on downs, two ended in lost fumbles and the last one ended at the final gun.

Other scores:

at Liberty 52, Norfolk State 17

at Virginia Tech 41, Marshall 20