Carson Steele runs for 3 TDs on his birthday, No. 25 UCLA routs Stanford 42-7

Updated Oct. 22, 2023 2:53 a.m. ET

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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Carson Steele ran for three touchdowns to stake No. 25 UCLA to an early 21-point lead on his 21st birthday and the Bruins went on to beat Stanford 42-7 on Saturday night.

“That’s pretty cool," Steele said. "It’s awesome how little things like that kind of work. But just being able to jump out and drive and kind of hold them down.”

Steele capped the first two drives of the game for the Bruins (5-2, 2-2 Pac-12) with short TD runs and added a third later in the first half to open a 21-0 lead over the Cardinal (2-5, 1-4). He finished with 76 yards on the ground to make life easy on new quarterback Ethan Garbers.

UCLA coach Chip Kelly made a switch at quarterback after freshman Dante Moore struggled in recent weeks and handed it back over to Garbers, who started the season opener. Garbers went 20 for 28 for 240 yards, throwing TD passes to J. Michael Sturdivant and Moliki Matavao in the third quarter.

“I thought Ethan played really well tonight," Kelly said. "We’ve always felt like we’ve had depth at the quarterback spot. ... I’m really pleased with Ethan today, but I don’t think anything that Ethan did surprised any of us on our staff or any of our players because we see that on a daily basis.”

Stanford was unable to follow up last week's school-record comeback against Colorado with another strong effort. The Cardinal have lost 18 of their last 20 conference games.

“Our margin for victory is thin," coach Troy Taylor said. "We’ve got to start off faster. We just have to.”

Garbers completed all four passes on the opening drive to move the Bruins down the field and Steele finished it off with a 2-yard run.

He then completed a 45-yard to Hudson Habermehl to open UCLA's next possession before Steele ran on the next two plays, scoring on an 8-yard run that made it 14-0.

After having a field goal blocked on their third possession, the Bruins drove 97 yards to score on Steele's 3-yard run midway through the second quarter and the game was never in doubt after that.

Ashton Daniels, who led the big comeback last week at Colorado with 396 yards passing off the bench, struggled to get the ball downfield against UCLA's stingier defense. He threw for 268 yards with one TD and one interception.

“We’ve just got to start faster,” Daniels said. “I don’t really think that (in) the first half, we were as competitive as we needed to be.”

THE TAKEAWAY

UCLA: The Bruins made the switch at QB after Moore threw three interceptions last week, including his third pick-6 in as many games. Garbers wasn't spectacular but he was efficient and most importantly protected the ball. Kelly wouldn't commit to Garbers remaining the starter, saying the decision would be made after another week of practice.

Stanford: A week after rallying from 29-0 down at the half to beat Colorado, the Cardinal fell into a big hole again. They trailed 21-0 at the break in this game but weren't able to mount another comeback. Stanford has now lost 10 straight games against ranked opponents and six straight at home.

UP NEXT

UCLA: Hosts Colorado on Saturday.

Stanford: Hosts No. 5 Washington on Saturday.

___ Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here ___ AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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