Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

McCaffrey helps No. 15 Stanford run past California 35-22

Christian McCaffrey ran around and through the California defense on a 49-yard touchdown catch and also scored on a 98-yard kickoff return to help No. 15 Stanford clinch a spot in the Pac-12 championship game by winning the Big Game 35-22 on Saturday night.

McCaffrey ran for 192 yards and gained a school-record 389 all-purpose yards in another highlight-reel performance that gave the Cardinal (9-2, 8-1, No. 11 CFP) their sixth straight win over the Golden Bears (6-5, 3-5).

Remound Wright ran for two short touchdowns and Bryce Love added a 48-yard scoring run for Stanford, which clinched the Pac-12 North with the win. The Cardinal will play the winner of next week's game between UCLA and Southern California for the Pac-12 title on Dec. 5 in Santa Clara.

But before that, the Cardinal host No. 5 Notre Dame next week in a game that could boost their playoff chances that looked dire after last week's loss to Oregon.

Jared Goff threw for 386 yards and two touchdowns but the Bears settled for field goals three times in the red zone and fell short once again against their fiercest rival.

McCaffrey was the biggest reason why. He has a school-record nine straight 100-yard rushing games, has topped 300 all-purpose yards four times this season and needs 444 all-purpose yards to break Barry Sanders' single-season FBS record of 3,250 set in 1988. With the Cardinal making the conference title game, McCaffrey will have at least three more games to break that mark.

Cal dominated the third quarter with two scoring drives and finally got into the end zone when Goff hit Darius Powe on a 3-yard pass that cut Stanford's lead to 21-16.

But the Cardinal responded after Cal gave them good field position with a short kickoff that kept the ball out of McCaffrey's hands. McCaffrey ran for 44 of the 61 yards on the TD drive that was capped by a 1-yard run by Wright, who has six touchdowns in the past two Big Games.

After Stanford stopped Cal on a fourth down, Love iced the game with his long run and ensured that the Cardinal would retain the coveted Axe for another year.

Cal moved the ball well for much of the game but three times settled for field goals by Matt Anderson after getting inside the 20. McCaffrey made the Bears pay by beating them with big plays.

On the first, he caught a screen pass from Kevin Hogan and broke a tackle behind the line. He broke more tackles while weaving his way through the overmatched Cal defense to give Stanford a 14-3 lead.

The Bears then cut the lead with a field goal with 51 seconds left but were unable to carry that good feeling into the half when McCaffrey ran back the ensuing kick untouched for another score.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy