California Sports AP News

(AP) Will Harris returned an interception 55 yards for a score, Matt Barkley threw a 75-yard pass to Damian Williams for another score, and No. 12 USC held on for a shaky 14-9 victory over Arizona State on Saturday night.

Coming off the worst loss in the Pete Carroll era, the Trojans barely survived on a night they produced little on offense. The victory kept the Trojans in the hunt for an eighth straight Bowl Championship Series berth.

USC's defense was the reason the Trojans beat ASU for the 10th straight time.

Sun Devils freshman Brock Osweiler came off the bench and threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Chris McGaha. But Harris ended ASU's upset bid by picking off Osweiler's last-gasp pass in the end zone as time expired.

WASHINGTON-UCLA QB Craft leads UCLA past Washington 24-23

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Kevin Craft passed for 159 yards in the second half after taking over for injured Kevin Prince, and UCLA made a late defensive stand to snap its five-game losing streak with a 24-23 victory over Washington on Saturday.

Rahim Moore intercepted Jake Locker's deflected pass near the UCLA 20 in the final minute for the Bruins. UCLA ended a school-record-tying seven-game conference skid despite losing Prince on a helmet-to-helmet hit late in the first half.

Craft, the Bruins' starter last season before losing his job to Prince, led their comeback from a nine-point deficit, going 10 for 14 with a 29-yard TD pass to Terrence Austin.

The UCLA defense also shut out Locker and the Huskies in the final 26 minutes.

T25-OREGON-STANFORD Gerhart leads Stanford past No. 7 Oregon 51-42

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Toby Gerhart bowled over the Oregon defense to make the Cardinal bowl eligible for the first time in eight years.

Gerhart ran for a school-record 223 yards and three scores, Andrew Luck threw for two touchdowns and Stanford held on to beat No. 7 Oregon 51-42 Saturday for its all-important sixth win of the season.

The loss by Oregon just a week after beating Southern California 47-20 opened up the conference race and cost the Ducks any shot at a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

Oregon rallied with two late touchdowns to cut a 20-point lead down to six, but Stanford recovered an onside kick with 2:38 to go and tacked on Nate Whitaker's third field goal with 11 seconds left. The students rushed the field as the game ended.

The Cardinal snapped a seven-game losing streak against Oregon.

T25-OREGON ST-CALIFORNIA Oregon State upsets Cal

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Sean Canfield threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score Saturday night in Oregon State's 31-14 victory over No. 23 California, which lost star tailback Jahvid Best to a concussion after he took a scary fall.

Cal couldn't recover from seeing Best land on his head in the end zone after a leaping touchdown over a defender in the second quarter. The Golden Bears, who had won three straight to get back in the Top 25 for the first time following a four-week absence, lost their fifth straight at home to the Beavers — and this one made Oregon State bowl eligible.

Canfield completed 29 of 39 passes with nine to Jacquizz Rodgers and six each to James Rodgers and Joe Halahuni.

CAL POLY-UC DAVIS UC Davis defeats Cal Poly, 23-10

DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — Greg Denham completed 21 of 36 passes for 278 yards and a touchdown and Sean Kelley kicked three field goals Saturday in UC Davis' 23-10 victory over Cal Poly.

Mike Morales had 13 tackles and Brad Bispo caught a TD pass in the first quarter for the Aggies.

Jake Romanelli ran for a 42-yard touchdown for the Mustangs, who are 0-5 on the road this season.

Chris Pinto's field goal put Cal Poly ahead 10-7 at the half, but a pair of Kelley field goals, including a school record-tying 52-yarder, put the Aggies ahead 13-10 in the third quarter.

Lined up in a wildcat formation, backup safety and running back Nick Aprile scored on a 4-yard run to extend UC Davis' lead to 20-10 with 10 minutes remaining. Kelley's third field goal closed out the scoring.

DAVIDSON-SAN DIEGO Davidson defeats San Diego 34-27

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Michael Blanchard rushed for 102 yards on 10 carries and threw for another 78 yards to help Davidson beat San Diego 34-27 Saturday.

Blanchard replaced Matt Heavner at quarterback in the second quarter with the Wildcats trailing 17-14. He led two scoring drives with rushes of 22 and 35 yards to put Davidson ahead for good.

Justin Williams and Kenny Mantuo each ran for a touchdown as Davidson amassed 282 rushing yards and won on the road for the first time this season.

JT Rogan ran for two scores and Bo Stompro threw a 42-yard TD pass to Kyle Warren as the Toreros lost their fourth straight.

T25-TCU-SAN DIEGO ST Dalton leads No. 6 TCU to 55-12 win over SDSU

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Andy Dalton threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more as No. 6 TCU won its 11th straight with a 55-12 win over San Diego State on Saturday.

TCU remained in the chase for a BCS bowl berth by staying undefeated.

The Horned Frogs jumped in front with touchdowns on five of their first six possessions. Dalton scored on runs of 13 and 7 yards as TCU held a 31-6 halftime lead. He also hit Ryan Christian on TD passes of 44 and 29 yards.

San Diego State struggled against TCU's top-ranked defense, managing just a 30-yard TD pass from Ryan Lindley to DeMarco Sampson and two field goals by Lane Yoshida.

BREEDERS' CUP Zenyatta wins 14th in a row in BC Classic

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — What a gal!

Zenyatta beat the boys in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday, running her record to 14-0 in the most impressive effort of her career.

The 5-year-old mare rallied from last in the early going and fought off Gio Ponti in the stretch to win by a length at Santa Anita, beating a loaded field of 11 males.

Quality Road was scratched at the starting gate after he acted up and scraped his hind leg, delaying the start by several minutes. That may have explained Zenyatta's poor start as she broke from the gate on the wrong foot and trailed the field for much of the early going.

Ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, Zenyatta still ran 1¼ miles in 2:00.62 and paid $7.60, $5.60 and $3.80 as the 5-2 wagering favorite of the 58,845 fans.

Gio Ponti returned $9.20 and $6.60, while Britain-bred Twice Over paid $7 to show.

PENGUINS-SHARKS, Pavelski leads Sharks over Penguins 5-0

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist in his first game back from the injured list and Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves and the San Jose Sharks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins for the seventh straight time at home, 5-0 Saturday night.

Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby was held pointless for a fourth straight game for the fourth time in his career. He hit the post with a shot early in the second period but was unable to convert against Nabokov and the Sharks.

Dan Boyle, Dany Heatley, Jamie McGinn and Manny Malhotra also scored for San Jose, which has eight wins and a tie at home against Pittsburgh since last losing to the Penguins at the Shark Tank 5-2 on Oct. 22, 1997, when Crosby was only 10 years old.

COYOTES-DUCKS Hiller loses shutout, but holds on for Ducks win

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Brown's goal off a faceoff in the third period became a surprising game-winner as the Anaehim Ducks held on for a 4-3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.

After building a 4-0 lead on goals by Teemu Selanne, Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry and Brown, the Ducks surrendered three quick tallies to Phoenix in an 8-minute span of the third period.

Jonas Hiller made several of his 27 saves over the final minutes to secure the victory for the Ducks, who ended a brief three-game homestand with consecutive wins. It was the second time this season Anaheim has won two in a row.

Scott Niedermayer had two assists for Anaheim.

PREDATORS-KINGS Predators beat Kings 3-1

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Francis Boullion, Cody Franson and Joel Ward scored to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Dan Ellis made 27 saves in his first start since Oct. 28, when he was pulled by coach Barry Trotz early in the second period after giving up three goals on 10 shots in a game the Predators rallied to win 4-3 at Minnesota.

The Predators opened the scoring at 16:38 of the second period while Raitis Ivanans was off for hooking Jordin Tootoo. Franson fired wide on a one-timer from the right point, but Bouillon beat forward Wayne Simmonds to the loose puck after it caromed off the end boards and beat Jon Quick from a sharp angle on the power play for his 22nd goal in 10-plus NHL seasons.

KINGS-JAZZ Evans scores 32 points to lead Kings

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Tyreke Evans scored a career-high 32 points and the Sacramento Kings held off the Utah Jazz for a 104-99 victory Saturday night in their first game without high-scoring guard Kevin Martin.

Evans, the fourth overall pick in the June draft, became the focal point of the Kings' offense in place of Martin, who averaged 30.6 points in the first five games. Martin will have surgery Monday to repair a fracture in his left wrist.

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