How The West Was Won

A week ago, the Stanford Cardinals easily handled the UCLA Bruins in their regular season finale.

This week the same two teams faced off in the Pac12 Championship but it wasn’t so easy for the Cardinals this time.

The Bruins jumped out to a 14-7 lead early in the 1st half, yet Stanford was able to climb back to a 14-14 tie before a field goal right before half gave them the 17-14 lead at the midpoint of the Championship Game.

After UCLA kicked a field goal to tie things up with a little over 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, UCLA was able to add a 20yd touchdown run from Johnathan Franklin late in the same quarter to take a 24-17 advantage going into the final frame.

Just as Stanford has all year, they showed their toughness in the 4th quarter as they rallied off 10 consecutive points by adding a 26yd touchdown pass from Kevin Hogan to Drew Terrell followed by a 36yd field goal to regain the lead 27-24 with 6:49 left to go in the game.

UCLA stalled on their next drive and so did Stanford giving UCLA one last chance to win the Pac12 Championship.

They took over at their own 19yd line and drove all the way to the Stanford 34yd line to line up a game tying field goal.

However, UCLA was unable to convert on the 51 yd field goal to tie the game as the field goal was missed, handing the Pac12 title to the Cardinals.

Stanford is the 2012 Pac12 Champion and will go to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena beating UCLA 27-24 on Friday night and will face the eventual Big10 Champion.