STANFORD — Stanford returned to form Saturday, dominating lowly Duke 50-13 in its final tuneup before second-ranked USC comes to town for the most anticipated game of the season.

The Cardinal (2-0) needed just 67 seconds to take the lead and kept the pressure on the Blue Devils (1-1) before an announced crowd of 44,016 at Stanford Stadium.

The impressive all-around effort — Stanford scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams — was worthy of the Andrew Luck era, when the Cardinal pummeled second-rate opponents.

“It’s not just the score, it’s the way we played,” Cardinal coach David Shaw said.

It stood in stark contrast to Stanford’s sputtering performance a week earlier against San Jose State.

The offense eliminated the errors in communication and execution that plagued the 20-17 victory over SJSU. In the second start of his career, quarterback Josh Nunes was sharp and confident, completing 14 of 27 passes for 213 yards in the first three quarters.

“Things are getting a lot more comfortable,” Nunes said. “Duke presented a lot of different problems.”

Stanford’s only shortcoming was its red zone offense: The Cardinal scored touchdowns on just three of six possessions inside Duke’s 20.

The defense welcomed back linebacker Shayne Skov, who played for the first time since suffering a severe knee injury early last season. His presence seemed to energize the unit, which smothered Duke’s short passing game and limited the Blue Devils to 109 yards in the first half.

“We were just disciplined this week. There were less mental errors,” said free safety Ed Reynolds, who had two interceptions and returned one of them for a touchdown.

Even Stanford’s special teams contributed to the dominating first half performance.

Duke went three-and-out on the opening possession, then punted to the Cardinal’s Drew Terrell. After fielding the ball at the 24, Terrell took a few steps to his right, cut left past Duke’s initial wave of tacklers, then headed for the end zone.

“I saw on film that their punter out-punted their coverage. I had one guy to beat, and fortunately I was able to (cut) inside of him,” Terrell said.

The 76-yard dash was Stanford’s first punt return for a touchdown since Richard Sherman against San Jose State in 2009.

Stanford’s defense again held Duke without a first down, and Nunes trotted out for the Cardinal’s first possession. It featured a 32-yard pass to Ty Montgomery, who made a fingertip catch, and a 15-yard screen pass to tailback Stepfan Taylor. But the drive stalled in the red zone and Jordan Williamson kicked a 35-yard field goal.

The sequence — an impressive drive that fizzled in the red zone — was repeated late in the first quarter, and Williamson’s second field goal increased the margin to 13-0.

The Cardinal broke the game open early in the second quarter when Taylor charged 13 yards through the heart of Duke’s defense for a touchdown that pushed the lead to 20-0.

Fullback Ryan Hewitt (sprained ankle) missed his second consecutive game.

Stanford wore black uniforms for the third time in school history. The other instances: against Wake Forest two years ago and UCLA last season. The difference this time was that Stanford sported black helmets and shoes, as well.

Stanford’s home-and-home series with Duke is over and will be replaced by two games against Army. The Cardinal visits West Point next fall and then hosts the Black Knights in 2014.