Cardinal cruises to victory in battle of Bay Area teams

STANFORD, Calif. — Chris Owusu opened the game with a 94-yard kickoff return and also caught a touchdown pass, Toby Gerhart ran for 113 yards and two TDs and Stanford beat San Jose State 42-17 in its home opener Saturday night in the third annual Bill Walsh Legacy Game.

Corey Gatewood added a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown and Richard Sherman scored on a 48-yard punt return for the Cardinal, who are determined to earn a bowl berth in coach Jim Harbaugh's third season after a near miss last year.

It gets tougher next week, when Stanford (2-1, 1-0 Pac-10) hosts Washington. The Huskies will surely be riding high after their shocking 16-13 upset of No. 3 Southern California earlier Saturday.

LOUISIANA TECH 48, NICHOLS STATE 13: At Ruston, La., Ross Jenkins threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns to lead Louisiana Tech to victory over Nicholls State on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs (1-2) never trailed and took a 20-3 lead in the third quarter when D.J. Morrow scored on a 9-yard run. Morrow finished with 89 yards rushing on eight carries, while Tyrone Duplessis added 71 yards on the ground on eight attempts.

Louisiana Tech pushed its lead to 34-3 in the third when Deon Young returned an interception 32 yards for a score. Dennis Morris then caught a 37-yard touchdown from Jenkins, who completed 21-of-30 passes. Jenkins also threw a 6-yard touchdown to Houston Tuminello in the fourth quarter.

Nicholls State's Jacob Witt was 9-of-20 for 107 yards passing and three interceptions, but he had a 24-yard rushing touchdown for the Colonels (1-2). Anton Robinson finished with eight catches for 101 yards.

UTEP VS. NEW MEXICO STATE: At Las Cruces, N.M., the visiting Miners held a 31-0 lead at the end of the third quarter in a game that was delayed nearly three hours by lightning.

The contest was stopped at the 12:16 mark of the first quarter after a Donald Buckram 1-yard touchdown run put the Miners up 7-0. Jason Williams' 2-yard TD run put UTEP on top 14-0 just two minutes before halftime.