Gerhart’s 3-TD day helps Stanford beat UCLA 24-16

Gerhart leads Stanford past UCLA

STANFORD, Calif. — Toby Gerhart ran for three touchdowns, quarterback Andrew Luck passed for 198 yards and Stanford snapped a five-game losing streak to UCLA with a 24-16 victory Saturday to keep a share of the Pac-10 lead and spoil the Bruins’ conference opener.

Gerhart had TD runs of 5, 10 and 1 yards and also caught two passes for 24 yards to lead the Cardinal to their first win in the rivalry since 2003. Luck, a redshirt freshman, completed 14 of his first 17 passes before incompletions on his final three attempts.

Stanford (4-1, 3-0 Pac-10) — trying to reach a bowl game in coach Jim Harbaugh’s third season and end a seven-year postseason drought — is off to its best five-game start since going 4-0-1 in 1995 during Tyrone Willingham’s first year as coach.

UCLA (3-1, 0-1) is the last Pac-10 team to lose a game this season.