Stanford vs. ASU: Score and Twitter Reaction

The legend of Mike Bercovici grows. The disparity between ASU leader Taylor Kelly and his backup becomes increasingly small with each major victory.

The junior quarterback, who stepped in for an injured Kelly in a 62-27 loss to UCLA on Sept. 25, picked up his second victory in a row and ASU's fifth win of the year, with the 17th-ranked Sun Devils knocking off the No. 23 Stanford Cardinal, 26-10, at home on Saturday night.

"Going into the UCLA game, a lot of guys hadn't really seen me," Bercovici said before the game, per Evan Webeck of The State Press. "They'd seen me in practice but not really underneath the lights. More than ever, now, I feel like I'm getting a lot of respect."

He didn't post the video game-like numbers that he had against the Bruins and USC Trojans, but he was efficient with his throws and moved the ball against a talented Cardinal defense, which is no easy feat. Coming into the game, Stanford ranked fourth in pass defense (138.2 YPG) and second in total defense (238 YPG).

Bercovici ended up 23-of-33 for 245 yards and a touchdown. Doug Haller of AZCentral.com was impressed with how even-keeled the signal-caller remained:

Junior wide receiver Jaelen Strong was Bercovici's favorite target, catching eight passes for 75 yards and a touchdown.

The running back combo of Deantre Lewis and D.J. Foster wasn't prolific, but the two combined to rush for 105 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries to take some pressure off Bercovici and the passing game. Foster also added seven receptions and 92 yards receiving.

The story of Stanford's season is that its somewhat pedestrian offense has held back its outstanding defense. The Cardinal were 81st in total offense (389.3 YPG) and tied for 86th in scoring (26.3 PPG) before Saturday's game.

Senior quarterback Kevin Hogan had a particularly rough day, going 19-of-39 for 212 yards. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News thought ASU head coach Todd Graham and defensive coordinator Keith Patterson did a great job of mixing up the Sun Devils' defensive looks:

Hogan didn't receive much help from the running game, with Stanford amassing 288 yards as a team.

Sports On Earth's Matt Brown alluded to the fact that a defense that was ripped apart by UCLA was completely shutting down the Cardinal:

Defense hasn't exactly been a calling card for Arizona State, so if the Sun Devils can carry this kind of performance into what is a brutal stretch of games to come, they could position themselves as the cream of the crop in the wide open Pac-12 South.

With the way that Bercovici has the offense playing, ASU will be in every game it has left.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Sun Devils took a 7-0 lead with 8:28 left in the first half following a 13-play, 81-yard drive that ate nearly five minutes off the clock. Foster ran it in from a yard out to cap off the impressive march.

Bercovici doubled the lead with a three-yard touchdown pass to Strong (via Pac-12 Networks):

Arizona State only needed to move the ball 12 yards in order to go ahead 14-0 after Stanford return man Ty Montgomery fumbled a punt. Rob Schumacher of The Arizona Republic caught the moment when the ball bounced out of Montgomery's grasp:

The turnover was an uncharacteristic mistake from the senior wideout/return man. He'd previously been a thorn in Arizona State's side, recording nine receptions for 131 yards and three touchdowns in addition to 140 kick-return yards on five attempts.

Stanford was forced to wait until the second half before getting its first points of the game. Jordan Williamson knocked home a 40-yard field goal to on the first drive of the third quarter to cut Arizona State's lead to 11 points, 14-3.

However, Zane Gonzalez answered back with two field goals of his own, connecting first from 25 yards and then 47 yards out to put ASU ahead 20-3 with 12:50 to play.

Fullback Patrick Skov handed the Cardinal their first touchdown of the game after a one-yard run with 11:23 left in the game:

His TD was quickly negated by two more field goals from Gonzalez in the fourth quarter to put ASU ahead by 16 points, 26-10, with 3:29 left, which put the game out of reach for Stanford.

The Cardinal will look to recover against the Oregon State Beavers next Saturday. After that, they play No. 9 Oregon and No. 20 Utah, so the road doesn't get any easier.

Arizona State goes on the road next week to play Washington, and then it's the Utes followed by No. 5 Notre Dame. Those latter two games will whether the last two weeks have been an aberration for the Sun Devils or a sign that they're truly for real.

Note: All team stats are courtesy of NCAA.com.