Stanford defense applies a clamp

STANFORD - Kevin Hogan threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns and No. 25 Stanford slowed down Connor Halliday and the Air Raid offense in a 34-17 victory against Washington State on Friday night.

Greg Taboado grabbed his first two career TDs and fellow tight end Eric Cotton had his first scoring catch to help the Cardinal (4-2, 2-1) rebound from a nonconference loss at Notre Dame and renew their chase for a third consecutive Pac-12 championship.

A week after Halliday threw for an NCAA-record 734 yards in a 60-59 loss to California, the nation’s stingiest scoring defense harassed him all over the backfield.

Stanford held Halliday to 42-for-69 passing for 292 yards and two touchdowns, forced one interception and had four sacks. The Cougars (2-5, 1-3) have lost two in a row, and their chances of making consecutive bowl games under Mike Leach look dim.

Ty Montgomery hauled in seven passes for 72 yards, Cotton caught a 39-yard TD pass and Taboado tallied two short scores from Hogan to give the Cardinal a 24-10 lead.

Hogan completed 23 of 35 passes.

Stanford improved to 9-0 after losses under David Shaw and hasn’t dropped consecutive games since October 2009. But penalties and miscues in the red zone cost the Cardinal from taking control - which has been a theme this season - against a Washington State defense that struggled again.

The usually stoic Shaw even broke out of character a couple of times, though it was often directed at officials, including tossing his headset while arguing on the sideline for pass interference. He also dropped his hands to his side and shrugged after fullback Patrick Skov fumbled while trying to stretch the ball over the goal line late in the first half.

Stanford still outgained Washington State 477 to 266 yards - enough to bring a smile out of Tiger Woods on the sideline - and leaned on its defense to do the rest.