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Stanford, Calif. • Don't count Stanford out of the Pac-12 race just yet.
The Cardinal's physical ground game and dominant defense — which disappeared in a loss at Utah last week — showed they can still shut down new-age offenses the old-fashioned way.
Tyler Gaffney ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 13 Stanford smothered Brett Hundley and No. 9 UCLA 24-10 on Saturday with a physical performance on both sides of the ball.
"You hear the expression, 'Offense is your best defense.' You keep them off. They can't do anything," Gaffney said.
The Cardinal outgained UCLA 419 yards to 266, won the time of possession 37:11 to 22:49 and again made the big plays when it mattered most.
Kevin Hogan threw for 227 yards and a spectacular touchdown to Kodi Whitfield as the Cardinal (6-1, 4-1) regrouped the way they always seem to over the past four years. Stanford has not lost consecutive games since October 2009.
"It's been a staple of ours for some time now," Cardinal coach David Shaw said.
Hundley completed 24 of 39 passes for 192 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions by Jordan Richards — the second with a little more than 2 minutes remaining, leading to another Stanford touchdown that put the first blemish on UCLA's season.
Notre Dame 14, USC 10 • In South Bend, Ind., Tommy Rees threw two touchdowns before leaving the game with an injury and Notre Dame snapped a five-game home losing streak to USC.
Rees was 14 of 21 passing for 166 yards with TD throws to Troy Niklas and TJ Jones in the first half. Rees left the game when he was sacked by USC linebacker Lamar Dawson in the third quarter and didn't return.
After converting both third-down conversions on their opening scoring drive, the Trojans went 0-of-11 the rest of the game.
Arizona State 53, Washington 24 • In Tempe, Ariz., Taylor Kelly accounted for 352 yards and four touchdowns, Marion Grice scored three times and Arizona State's defense bottled up Washington's Bishop Sankey in a win over the 20th-ranked Huskies.
Arizona State (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) has struggled against the run the past two seasons and Sankey entered the game as the nation's leading rusher at nearly 150 yards per game. The Sun Devils flipped the tables, limiting Sankey to 22 yards on 13 carries while holding the nation's eighth-best offense to 212 total yards.
Colorado 43, Charleston Southern 10 • In Boulder, Colo., quarterback Sefo Liufau won his first career start thanks to fellow freshman Michael Adkins' four TD runs in Colorado's rout of lower-tier Charleston Southern.