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PALO ALTO, California (Ticker) -- Stanford's offense did not miss a beat under backup quarterback Joe Borchard, who threw five touchdown passes to lead the Cardinal to a 42-32 Pac-10 Conference victory over 18th-ranked UCLA. Borchard completed only three passes in the season's first three games. He replaced an injured Todd Husak in the second quarter and guided Stanford (3-1, 3-0 Pac-10) to its third straight win, catching the Bruins off guard with a game plan devised by offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick. "I thought that we would go in there and just run the ball," Borchard said. "But with how unpredictable coach Diedrick is, (we) kept them off-balance. Right away completing a long pass made it clear to me that I was going to have to complete the job." Since an embarrassing 69-17 loss at Texas to open the season, the Cardinal have rolled up 146 points in victories over conference rivals Washington State, Arizona and UCLA. At 3-0, Stanford is off to its best Pac-10 start since 1971. Borchard was 15-of-19 for 324 yards. Troy Walters caught three touchdown passes among nine receptions for a school-record 278 yards. Included in that total was the longest scoring strike on conference history, a 98-yarder early in the third quarter that extended the Cardinal's lead to 28-3. "We weren't thinking about last year. This is a new year and a new team," Walters said. "This is a whole different circumstance, so we were really focused on this game." DeShaun Foster rushed for 100 yards and two touchdown on 19 carries for UCLA (2-2, 0-1), which came away with wins in its last three trips to Stanford. The Bruins were without injured receivers Brian Poli-Dixon and Danny Farmer and had a 15-game conference winning streak stopped. "We spotted them too much early," UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. "It was 21-3 at halftime and we gave them four big third-down plays to give them that score. Then the second half, Stanford came out and hit the big bomb, they ran the fake punt and then we have them 3rd-and-long and the quarterback scrambles. So give credit to them. They are a veteran football team with 31 seniors, and we have 17 freshmen on this trip." The Cardinal never trailed after Kerry Carter's five-yard run capped a 95-yard drive and opened a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. But the margin was 35-32 in the final period when Borchard dashed 56 yards up the middle on 3rd-and-15 to the UCLA 29-yard line. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to DeRonnie Pitts with just over three minutes to play, sealing the victory. "I ran out of gas at the end," Borchard admitted. "I needed a break after that. They were able to bring the pressure and I was able to step out of it and get down the field for a first down." In between those scores, Borchard had TD strikes of 30, 98 and 18 yards to Walters. The 98-yarder eclipsed the school record of 96 yards, set in 1970 when Jim Plunkett and Randy Vataha connected against Washington State. "It was a post route and I saw the safety in the middle, and I was outside. I was worried that the safety was going to stay there and take the route away," Walters said. "But the tight end took the safety in the middle and he jumped at it. And Joe threw a ball that was easy for me to catch." Borchard also hit Pitts for an eight-yard scoring toss in the final minute of the second quarter, giving Stanford a 21-3 halftime lead. UCLA answered Walters' record-setting TD when Lovell Houston returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a score. Less than six minutes later, Foster went in from seven yards, slicing the margin to 28-17. The third Borchard-to-Walters strike restored the Cardinal's 18-point cushion, but Foster and quarterback Drew Bennett scored on short runs to make it 35-32 midway through the fourth quarter. Bennett was 19-of-31 for 207 yards without a touchdown. "It took me a while to find my rhythm," he said. "And I had some trouble gripping the ball for some reason. I know that it is a minor detail which led to a few light passes that should have been thrown harder. I got my groove after a while, but you can't throw that slow against a team like this." Husak completed 6-of-8 passes for 141 yards before leaving in the second quarter. Borchard also was Stanford's leading rusher with 74 yards on eight carries. Pitts had a big day as well, hauling in nine passes for 119 yards.
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