By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Friday, November 28, 2014

Stanford went to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, Friday looking to have some fun and have a say in who represents the Pac-12 South in the upcoming conference football championship game.

And you can’t blame Stanford if they feel right at home in the Rose Bowl, since Friday marked their fourth visit to the famed stadium in the last three years.

While the Cardinal’s chances for a third consecutive conference title were dashed some time ago, Stanford closed out its regular season playing like champs while hammering No. 9 UCLA 31-10.

The Cardinal win helped Arizona slip in and take the Pac-12 South crown, after the Wildcats upended Arizona State 42-35.

Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan had a fine day, completing 16 of 19 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns while running for two more scores.

Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector were on the receiving end of Hogan’s scoring strikes for Stanford (7-5 overall, 5-4 Pac-12), as the Cardinal came up with their seventh consecutive defeat of UCLA (9-3 overall, 6-3 Pac-12).

While Hogan enjoyed one of his best days of the season, his counterpart, Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley didn’t fare quite so well. Hundley threw for 146 yards — the third worst passing game of his 39 career starts — and left the game with an injured throwing hand.

Playing without the services of injured wide receiver Ty Montgomery (shoulder), Hogan still completed his first 12 passes. In the final minute of the first half, Hogan put his agility to good use, escaping the Bruin pass rush and tossing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Cajuste with 40 seconds left in the second quarter.

That drive capped a remarkable first half for the Stanford signal caller, who was 14 of 15 for 189 yards and two touchdowns in the first two quarters.

Stanford outgained the Bruins 436 yards to 262 and had the ball for 38 of the 60 minutes.

UCLA Coach Jim Mora has yet to defeat Stanford or Oregon in his first three seasons at the helm.

Now, the Cardinal will wait a few days and see what bowl game they land in, and who they’ll face. Same for UCLA, which thought it was headed to the Pac-12 title game and a possible College Football Playoff berth and will participate in neither.