Longshore, Cal burst Arizona State's bubble in blowout

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -- Daymeion Hughes read Rudy Carpenter's

eyes, intercepted his pass and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown

-- and he even stepped on the Arizona State quarterback on the way

to the end zone.

California walked all over the Sun Devils in a 49-21 victory

Saturday, and Hughes' pivotal pick capped a 42-point first half

that showed the No. 21 Golden Bears have made significant strides

in the last three weeks.

"That was the end of it, right there," Hughes said of his

interception and romp past would-be tackler Carpenter. "When you

get rolling like that, football is a fun game."

DeSean Jackson caught one of Nate Longshore's four touchdown

passes and returned a punt 80 yards for a score against the

22nd-ranked Sun Devils (3-1, 0-1 Pac-10), who couldn't keep up with

Cal's dizzying speed on both sides of the ball.

Lynch, Lavelle Hawkins and Justin Forsett also caught TD passes

for the Bears (3-1, 1-0), who scored four touchdowns in a 7½-minute

span of the first half. Longshore passed for 270 yards and Marshawn

Lynch ran for 124 in Cal's third straight impressive victory after

season-opening loss at Tennessee, when the Bears were ranked No. 9.

"In coach [Jeff] Tedford's offense, anybody can come up and be

the man at any time," said Jackson, who has seven touchdowns in

four games. "You've just got to be ready to make a play. Everybody

was ready today."

Hughes and Mickey Pimentel returned two of Cal's four

interceptions for scores, punctuating a terrible day for Carpenter.

Ryan Torain's career-high 191 yards rushing and two scores weren't

enough for the Sun Devils.

Hughes' fourth career TD return with 26 seconds left capped the

Golden Bears' highest-scoring half in their Pac-10 history -- one

week after they scored the same number of first-half points against

Portland State. Cal has racked up 1,442 total yards and 133 points

in its last three games.

By the final minutes, Arizona State's once-pressing defense was

back on its heels in soft coverage. Even worse, Carpenter seemed to

be confused by the Cal defense on every play.

"Our defensive line did a great job pressuring him, and he

doesn't respond real well to pressure," said Hughes, who has five

interceptions in three games. "We knew that, and we took advantage

of it. He didn't look real confident in the pocket."

Carpenter, who beat out now-transferred Sam Keller for the

starting job, went 16-of-35 for 177 yards and two touchdowns, and

had a key fumble in addition to his interceptions. Carpenter has

thrown eight interceptions this season after throwing just two in

228 attempts last season.

"They started blitzing us, and Rudy had a hard time getting

into the rhythm," Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter said. "When

the pressure builds, even the routine plays become tough. This is

exactly what happened to Cal at Tennessee."

Arizona State's latest trip to Memorial Stadium went downhill

from its game-opening 12-play scoring drive, culminating in

Torain's 9-yard TD catch.

After throwing two incompletions on Cal's first drive, Longshore

competed nine straight throws for 172 yards and three TDs. Cal

drove 80 yards for Forsett's 9-yard TD catch later in the first

quarter, then took the lead with back-to-back dynamite plays.

Linebacker Desmond Bishop recovered Carpenter's fumble on a sack

at the Arizona State 31, and Longshore then hit Hawkins in tight

coverage down the Cal sideline for a score on the next snap.

Jackson caught a short punt early in the second quarter and sped

through the Sun Devils' coverage team for an 80-yard score. Two

minutes later, Longshore hit Jackson for 52 yards and then found

Lynch for a 23-yard TD.

"A better team showed up. They outplayed us," Arizona State

safety Zach Catanese said. "They game-planned us pretty well. They

seemed to know when we were in [each defensive scheme]."

Carpenter hit Terry Richardson for a 49-yard TD early in the

third quarter, but the Sun Devils never found a rhythm. Pimentel

scored with 8 minutes left, blitzing and deflecting Carpenter's

pass to himself before leaping over the goal line for a 20-yard TD.

Syd'Quan Thompson grabbed Cal's final interception with 5½

minutes to play.

Rudy Burgess, Arizona State's top wide receiver, didn't make the

trip after injuring his neck last week. Keegan Herring, who

averaged 6.4 yards per carry in the Sun Devils' first three games,

didn't touch the ball after straining his hamstring last week.