STANFORD, Calif. — Richard Sherman shoved the good news right in David Shaw’s face.
When the former Stanford star tapped the coach on the shoulder in the fourth quarter, Shaw could not avoid seeing the Oregon score on Sherman’s phone — right in front of his face.
Sure, neither the Ducks nor Stanford were done for the day, yet Shaw’s team suddenly held some Pac-12 momentum again. Not long after that moment, the 10th-ranked Cardinal had secured their return trip to the conference title game with a 63-13 blowout of Bay Area rival California in the Big Game and Oregon’s loss Saturday.
“It wasn’t final,” Shaw said of the sideline move by Seahawks cornerback Sherman, on his NFL bye week. “He knew I didn’t want to see it.”
Ty Montgomery matched a Stanford school record with five touchdowns, scoring the first four times he touched the ball, and Stanford jumped to a quick lead and kept pounding.
Afterward, Stanford’s players cheered wildly in their victorious locker room, even belting out the national anthem at the top of their lungs.
“We celebrate all victories, and this one’s a big one,” quarterback Kevin Hogan said.
Hogan threw four of his five scoring passes to Montgomery, including a 9-yard completion just before halftime that put Stanford ahead 42-13. The Cardinal (9-2, 7-2 Pac-12) bounced back from last week’s loss at USC but needed No. 5 Oregon to lose one of its final two games to win the Pac-12 North. The Ducks lost 42-16 in Tucson, and Stanford’s fans led chants of “Arizona! Arizona!”
Stanford beat Oregon, giving the Cardinal the tiebreaker.
Hogan set career highs with 329 yards passing and the five TD passes.
Cal (1-11, 0-9) lost its 10th straight to finish new coach Sonny Dykes’ disappointing debut year.
“I can make a bunch of excuses, but my job is to get these guys ready to play,” Dykes said, “and obviously I haven’t.”
Michael Rector caught a 45-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter for Stanford, while Tyler Gaffney ran for a 58-yard score out of the wildcat formation in the third for a 49-13 lead — giving Stanford its season high for points and most ever in a Big Game. The Cardinal were 31½-point favorites, and the margin of victory was largest in Big Game history.
Other than that, it was Montgomery’s day. He tied Darrin Nelson’s single-game touchdowns record set at Oregon State in 1981.
He ran for a 31-yard touchdown and caught a 50-yard touchdown pass both in the opening 3½ minutes, then added a 12-yard TD reception with 6:58 to go in the first quarter. On the second play of the second quarter, he made a 72-yard catch and run from Hogan, who was credited with a career-long completion on the play.
Montgomery scored touchdowns on his first three catches of the day, and he had five receptions for 160 yards by halftime.
He had his first two touchdowns on only three offensive plays run by the Cardinal to start the game.
“It’s awesome, just getting him the ball and he makes me look good,” Hogan said.
Hogan completed his first five passes and finished 17 of 26 in Stanford’s 15th straight home victory and fourth in a row in this rivalry. Backup Evan Crower took over late in the third and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Francis Owusu.
Stanford, which hosts Notre Dame next weekend to conclude the regular season, finished with 603 total yards and 417 yards passing.
Cal quarterback Jared Goff left the game with 7:06 remaining in the first half with a separated right shoulder after a hard hit by linebacker Shayne Skov, who also clobbered him earlier. Goff landed awkwardly and stayed down for a few minutes, then walked off on his own accompanied by trainers and headed for the locker room.
“After the first one, I told them I wanted to play, so I went right back in,” Goff said.
Zach Kline played the rest of the way in Goff’s absence, going 8 of 14 for 115 yards.
Goff went 10 for 19 for 194 yards, giving the freshman 3,508 yards passing to break Pat Barnes’ previous single-season record of 3,499 set in 1996.
Brendan Bigelow broke free for a 25-yard gain on Cal’s initial series to help set up Goff’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Harris.
“We know what it feels like to be the worst,” Kline said. “We have nowhere to go but up.”
The 116th edition of the Big Game drew a sellout crowd of 50,424 on a gorgeous fall day on The Farm. The field was chipped up and slippery after heavy rain earlier in the week.
Montgomery had no problems.
He ran untouched for a 31-yard touchdown off a reverse as Stanford jumped ahead one minute into the game after Lee Ward’s 30-yard return on the opening kickoff put the Cardinal in good field position.
Stanford outside linebacker Trent Murphy made his nation-leading 13th sack. The Cardinal also forced at least one turnover for the 36th straight game.
A moment of silence was held before the national anthem for those affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
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