Los Angeles Times - 08.09.2019

James Stefanou’s 34-yard
field goal in overtime gave
Colorado its first lead and
the Buffaloes defeated
No. 25 Nebraska 34-31 on
Saturday at Boulder, Colo.,
when punter Isaac Arm-
strong’s 49-yard try sailed
wide right.
The students stormed
the field in celebration of the
Buffaloes’ second straight
win over their old Big 12 rival,
whom they rallied to beat in
the closing minutes last year
in Lincoln.
The Buffaloes (2-0) came
back from a 17-0 halftime
deficit and improved to 2-0
under coach Mel Tucker
while keeping Cornhuskers’
second-year coach Scott
Frost from winning his first
road game.
“My message to the team
[at halftime]was they gave
us their best shot and we
hadn’t even scratched the
surface of what we can do on
either side of the ball,”
Tucker said. “When we went
out into the tunnel coming
out for the second half, those
guys were energized and
ready to play ball.”
Before Saturday, un-
ranked Buffaloes teams
were 1-22 all-time against
ranked Nebraska teams
with their only win coming in
1976 when the Cornhuskers
were ranked third.
“This is one of the hard-
est losses I’ve ever been a
part of,” Frost said.
It included the longest
touchdown in Colorado’s
history, a 96-yard flea-flicker
from Steven Montez to K.D.

Nixon in a frenetic fourth quarter that featured 38 points and began with Ne- braska (1-1) up 17-7. Armstrong was pressed into kicking duties because the starting kicker, Barret Pickering, was out with an undisclosed injury, In overtime, after Stefanou’s field goal, Armstrong faced a 49- yard try. It was never close, send-

ing thousands of Buffaloes fans onto the field in celebration and leaving the stands a sea of red as a good 40% of the sellout crowd of 52,829 was cheering for the visitors in Nebraska’s first trip to Folsom Field in a decade. “There’s a lot of red that left here disappointed,” Tucker said.

at No. 22 Washington

State 59, Northern Col- orado 17:Anthony Gordon threw for 464 yards and four touchdowns and the Cougars (2-0) pounded the FCS foe. Gordon completed 31 of 39 passes with one intercep- tion. Max Borghi scored three touchdowns and Ea- sop Winston Jr. caught two scoring passes for Washing- ton State.

Jacob Knipp completed eight of 15 passes for 128 yards for Northern Colorado (0-2) of the Big Sky Confer- ence.

at No. 16 Oregon 77, Ne- vada 6:Justin Herbert threw for 310 yards and five touchdowns before heading to the sideline in the third quarter, and the Ducks rebounded from their season-opening loss to Auburn by crushing the Wolf Pack. The Ducks (1-1) have won 15 straight home openers

and 24 straight over noncon- ference foes at Autzen Sta- dium. Oregon tied a school record with seven touchdown passes — caught by seven receivers. The Ducks also tied their record for points at Autzen. Tight end Jacob Bree- land caught four passes for a career-high 112 yards and a score.

at No. 13 Utah 35, North- ern Illinois 17: Tyler Huntley passed for one touchdown and ran for another and the Utes (2-0) held the Huskies to 69 yards in the second half. After a shaky first half, the Utah defense clamped down on the Huskies with an effective pass rush, an inter- ception and a fourth-down stop. Huntley completed 14 for 19 for 214 yards and ran for 38 yards, without being sacked for the second consecutive game.

at Arizona 65, Northern Arizona 41: The Wildcats (1-1) scored 51 points in the first half and rolled up more than 700 yards overall as they pounded their state rivals. Gary Brightwell had a 94- yard touchdown run and wound up with 141 yards in five carries, and J.J. Taylor averaged 10.2 yards in 10 carries.

California at No. 14 Washington, late (lightning delay)

Oregon State at Hawaii, late

PAC-12 ROUNDUP

Colorado takes Nebraska by storm in overtime

associated press

COLORADO RECEIVERTony Brown makes a catch in the end zone in the final minute of the fourth quarter against Nebraska defender Lamar Jackson.

Dustin BradfordGetty Images

D14 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 SSS LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

AUG. 31

Fresno St. W, 31-23 (1-0)

SEPT. 7

Stanford W, 45-20 (2-0, 1-0)

SEPT. 20

Utah 6 p.m. FS1

SEPT. 28

@Wash. TBD

OCT. 12

@NDame 4:30 p.m. Ch. 4

NOV. 23

UCLA

TBD

NOV. 16

@California TBD

NOV. 9

@Ariz. St. TBD

NOV. 2

Oregon TBD

OCT. 25

@Colorado 6 p.m. ESPN2

OCT. 19

Arizona TBD

SEPT. 14

@BYU 12:30 p.m. TBD

UP NEXT >>>USC’s new quarterback got one game to get comfortable. Now, Kedon Slovis and the Trojans take to the road for an important test in a hostile environment. How hostile, we’ll have to see, after BYU pulled off an upset at Tennessee. The Cougars offense was outgained Saturday but won behind its own young quarterback, Zach Wilson.

USC GAME REPORT

USC 45, Stanford 20 Stanford.................................7 13 0 0—20 USC ......................................3 21 7 14—45 First Quarter USC—FG McGrath 23, 10:03 STA—Wedington 15 pass from Mills (Toner kick), 5:39 Second Quarter STA—Scarlett 3 run (Toner kick), 14:56 STA—FG Toner 32, 13:47 USC—St.Brown 39 pass from Slovis (McGrath kick), 11:29 STA—FG Toner 37, 8:00 USC—Carr 25 run (McGrath kick), 4:54 USC—St.Brown 7 pass from Slovis (McGrath kick), :31 Third Quarter USC—Malepeai 4 run (McGrath kick), :44 Fourth Quarter USC—Malepeai 6 run (McGrath kick), 10:19 USC—Vaughns 16 pass from Slovis (McGrath kick), 6:01 STATISTICS TEAM STA USC First downs ...................................23 23 Rushes-yards ............................30-98 28-115 Passing.......................................237 377 Comp-Att-Int..........................22-36-1 28-33-0 Return Yards ................................153 93 Punts-Avg................................1-32.0 2-34.5 Fumbles-Lost................................0-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards...........................7-60 8-93 Time of Possession ....................33:29 26:31 Individual Leaders RUSHING: Stanford, Scarlett 17-82, Wedington 1-17, Maddox 5-8, A.Jones 1-(minus 2), Mills 6-(minus 7). USC, Malepeai 12- 42, Stepp 3-33, Carr 6-33, Slovis 6-12, (Team) 1-(minus 5). PASSING: Stanford, Mills 22-36-1-237. USC, Slovis 28-33-0- 377. RECEIVING: Stanford, Parkinson 7-89, Wedington 5-67, Scar- lett 2-27, St. Brown 2-19, A.Jones 2-19, Peat 1-11, Harrington 1-5, Heimuli 1-2, Maddox 1-(minus 2). USC, St.Brown 8-97, Pittman Jr. 6-82, Vaughns 5-106, London 3-62, M.McClain 2-10, Male- peai 2-6, D.Williams 1-11, Carr 1-3. MISSED FIELD GOALS—Stanford, Toner 39, Toner 47.

STANDINGS TEAM Conf. Overall SOUTH W L W L USC 1 0 2 0 Arizona State 0020 Colorado 0020 Utah 0 0 2 0 Arizona 0 0 1 1 UCLA 0 0 0 2 NORTH W L W L Washington State 0 0 2 0 California 0 0 1 0 Washington 0 0 1 0 Oregon 0 0 1 1 Oregon State 0 0 0 1 Stanford 0 1 1 1 Does not include late games UP NEXT Friday Washington State at Houston Saturday Air Force at Colorado Stanford at Central Florida USC at Brigham Young Arizona State at Michigan State Idaho State at Utah North Texas at California Cal Poly at Oregon State Hawaii at Washington Oklahoma at UCLA Texas Tech at Arizona Montana at Oregon

for 377 yards and three touch-
downs in his first career start,
and the Trojans (2-0) shut out
the Cardinal in the second
half.
Even as USC’s defense
threatened to break in the
first half, Slovis never so much
as bent. On his first pos-
session, he marched the Tro-
jans’ up-tempo offense down
the field on a scoring drive.
But while the freshman
flashed unexpected poise
from the start, USC’s defense
began sloppy and undisci-
plined. Two quick scoring
drives gave Stanford an early
lead that felt like a serious up-
hill climb.
Then, a week after his 101-
yard touchdown return, Velus
Jones made matters worse.
The receiver tripped and fum-
bled on the ensuing kickoff re-
turn, handing the ball back to
the Cardinal. With the ball on
USC’s 21-yard line, Stanford
threatened to bust the game
open with a three-score lead.
A stop on that short field,
though, holding Stanford to a
field goal, was all that Slovis
needed to take control. He
proceeded to dice up a sec-
ondary that had held North-
western to a meager 117 pass-
ing yards a week ago.
That was hardly the case
Saturday night, as Slovis
cocked back his right arm on
the next possession and and
launched a 39-yard bomb into
the L.A. night. The high-arc-
ing pass floated down be-
tween two Stanford defend-
ers, landing perfectly in the
outstretched arms of Amon-
ra St. Brown for a touchdown.
Just 18 minutes into his
first start, with 147 yards
through the air, Slovis already
had surpassed the passing to-
tal allowed by the Cardinal a
week earlier.
USC still trailed, but its
quarterback’s confidence
seemed to only grow from
there, as the Trojans fought
out of their early deficit. After
another scoring drive, punc-
tuated by Stephen Carr’s
third touchdown of the young
season, Slovis marched USC
down the field with the clock
ticking down to halftime.
He fired a perfect, third-
down pass to Tyler Vaughns
along the sideline for 31 yards.
He slipped out of a sack. Then,
with 31 seconds remaining in
the half, he hit St. Brown

again for a seven-yard score and a 24-20 lead. From there, USC’s defense decided to follow his lead. Stanford’s offense, led by its own, less impressive backup quarterback, Davis Mills, ground to a halt. A taxing, 14-play Cardinal drive to start the third quarter ended in a missed field goal. Stanford’s next possession began near midfield but didn’t advance much farther, as USC’s defense clamped down. Stanford’s next field goal attempt was blocked, and from there, Slovis shut the door, leading three more touchdown drives for good measure. He had help from running back Vavae Malepeai, who ran for two touchdowns to go with 42 yards. Vaughns topped 100 yards for the second time in as many games, finishing with 106 on five catches, and St. Brown had 97 on eight. But as the fourth quarter wound down, it was obvious whom Saturday night’s victory was about. With a victory in hand, the student section began chanting his name. “We love Slo-vis!” they

screamed. After a first start for the ages by their freshman quarterback, they weren’t the only ones.

TYLER VAUGHNS fights for extra yardage after a reception against Stanford in the fourth quarter. He had five catches for 106 yards.

Photographs byLuis SincoLos Angeles Times

Slovis off to strong start for the Trojans

[USC,from D1]

AMON-RA ST. BROWN(8) is congratulated by Drew Richmond after scoring one of his two touchdowns against Stanford in the second quarter.