TEMPE, Ariz. – The Stanford Cardinal will return to the Rose Bowl by defeating the Arizona St. Sun Devils in the PAC-12 Championship game Saturday in a glorious fashion. Stanford (11-2) claimed it’s second Pac-12 consecutive championship and fourth consecutive BCS bowl with a mix of running and passing with a final score of 38-14. Stanford never trailed ASU on their win and will now meet Michigan State on Jan. 1, 2014 in Pasadena for the 100th Rose Bowl.
Stanford running back Tyler Gaffney ran for 133 yards on 22 carries and scored three touchdowns while quarterback Kevin Hogan passed for 277 yards to keep Arizona State off balance all evening. Stanford’s two losses to USC and Utah kept the Cardinal from staying on the radar for the BCS championship game ending the regular season with a BCS ranking of 5 and a computer ranking of 3.
Arizona State (10-2) won the Pac-12 South and earned the right to host the Pac-12 Championship game at home in Sun Devil Stadium. The game was attended by a total of 69,535 people which is the new Pac-12 Championship game record. Arizona State ended the season ranked 14th in the BCS poll and 11th in the computer poll.
The first quarter of the game was topped off by two incredible runs by both teams. Stanford’s Tyler Gaffney ran 69 yard for Stanford’s first score while D.J. Foster of ASU five plays later ran 51 yards for ASU to tie the game. Gaffney again scored on a 1 yard run half way through the first quarter to give Stanford a 14-7 lead they would never give up.
Stanford next plays in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2014 while Arizona State will play Texas Tech and their walk on freshman quarterback Baker Mayfield in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30th, 2013 in San Diego, California.