The Associated Press
STANFORD, Calif. — Josh Nunes bailed out Stanford’s defense for a change and started to erase doubts about whether he’s the right man to replace Andrew Luck after all.
Nunes threw for a career-high 360 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three more scores, rallying No. 18 Stanford from a two-touchdown deficit to stun Arizona 54-48 in overtime Saturday.
Chase Thomas intercepted a tipped pass by Matt Scott in the extra period and Stepfan Taylor ran for a 21-yard touchdown two plays later to end a week of second-guessing Nunes with a wild celebration in the Cardinal (4-1, 2-1 Pac-12) side of the north end zone.
“This is the kind of game that we needed," Stanford coach David Shaw said. “We needed to fight. We needed to battle. We needed to be into it in the fourth quarter. We needed to be down. We needed to fight back, just to test our character. We believe that we have that kind of character to be able to fight back even when we’re down, but it’s great when you get tested and respond to that challenge."
Maybe for nobody more than Nunes.
The offense failed to find the end zone in a 17-13 loss at Washington last week.
Also on Saturday:
California 43
No. 25 UCLA 17
BERKELEY, Calif. — Zach Maynard matched his career high with four touchdown passes and added a fifth on the ground and California took advantage of six turnovers to stun UCLA. Coming off one of the worst games of his career, Maynard threw an interception on the first series of the game and repeatedly picked himself up off the turf at Memorial Stadium after getting drilled by the Bruins defense to help the Golden Bears (2-4, 1-2 Pac-12) end their three-game losing streak.
