Duke Blue Devils vs Stanford Cardinal Box Score on Sep 08, 2012

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 9, 2012

No. 21 Stanford 50, Duke 13: Josh Nunes threw three touchdown passes in his second career start as the No. 21 Cardinal prepared for their showdown with No. 2 USC next week with an easy victory over the visiting Blue Devils.

Drew Terrell return a punt 76 yards for a touchdown 1:07 into the game and caught a touchdown pass and Stepfan Taylor rushed for 78 yards and a TD to move into third place on the career rushing yards list at Stanford. Nunes, who replaced No. 1 NFL draft pick Andrew Luck, was 17-of-31 for 280 yards and an interception.

Quarterback Sean Renfree was 12-of-14 for only 43 yards in the opening period and finished 28-of-40 for 198 yards and two interceptions for Duke (1-0).

The Cardinal (2-0) outgained the Blue Devils 123-36 in the first quarter en route to a 13-0 lead after a pair of Jordan Williamson field goals.

Taylor's 13-yard touchdown run came early in the second period and Williamson matched a career high with his third field goal to give Stanford a 23-0 advantage.

Stanford recovered an onside kick by Duke to start the second half and Nunes' 19-yard touchdown pass to Terrell capped a four-play, 43-yard drive. Safety Jordan Richards grabbed his first career interception on Renfree's third-down pass on the ensuing drive at the Duke 11 and two plays later, Nunes found Levine Toilolo for a 3-yard TD pass to make it 37-3.

Ed Reynolds had two interceptions, including a 70-yard return for a touchdown with 4:15 left in the third quarter to make it 43-6. Reynolds, who had an interception in last week's 20-17 victory over San Jose State, returned his second interception 50 yards.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Taylor, who has 2,964 career yards, passed Brad Muster and is 558 behind second-place Toby Gerhart. Darrin Nelson leads with 4,033 yards. ... Taylor is trying to become the first Cardinal with three straight 1,000-yard seasons. ... Stanford leads the series 3-1, including a 44-14 victory at Durham, N.C., last season. ... Duke hasn't recorded a winning season since 1994. ... The Blue Devils fell to 23-129-6 against ranked teams and hasn't won such a game since defeating Virginia 28-25 in 1994. ... Stanford is 8-8 all-time against Atlantic Coast Conference teams.