Stanford, with help from eight sacks and Toby Gerhart's 148 rushing yards, beat visiting San Jose State, 23-10, on Saturday night before 33,293 at Stanford Stadium.

Defensive ends Tom McAndrew and Tom Keiser led the Cardinal with two sacks apiece, the first of their collegiate careers.

Stanford scored 23 unanswered points after falling behind 10-0 and got career-best games from not only Gerhart, but kicker Aaron Zagory. His 52-yard field goal gave Stanford its first lead, with 1:49 left in the third quarter.

Gerhart exceeded his three-week-old career-high of 147, by rushing for 120 yards in the second half.

Stanford (2-2) held San Jose State (2-2) to only 38 second-half yards and registered six sacks during that time. This came despite the 23-of-26 (165 yards) performance by San Jose State quarterback Kyle Reed.

Tavita Pritchard was 13-of-28 passing for 159 yards and one interception.

Setting the scene:

In the 62 previous football meetings between Stanford and San Jose State since the series began in 1900, it seems the games have either been memorable and close. Or huge blowouts.

San Jose State could point to its 13-12 upset over Stanford's Rose Bowl-championship team in 1971 and its coach-vs.-son success in the Elway-vs.-Elway games. Stanford could point to a vast array of one-sided victories, including last season's 37-0 triumph.

Stanford entered the Bill Walsh Legacy Game with a 47-14-1 series lead. But rarely in all those meetings has there been such anticipation of a close, tight ballgame.

The following is a quarter-by-quarter rundown of Saturday night's game at Stanford Stadium:

Stanford began with Pritchard making his fourth start of the season, taking the first snap with the temperature at 64 degrees.

The quarterback question has been a favorite topic among Stanford fans since training camp began. First, Pritchard held off pre-season challenges from Alex Loukas and Michigan transfer Jason Forcier. Now, he maintains his position despite a new challenge from true freshman Andrew Luck, who took snaps with the first team last week and has risen to No. 2 on the depth chart.

Pritchard ran for six yards around right end on his first play, but two passes were dropped, giving the ball to San Jose State on a punt.

The Spartans moved quickly, earning a first down at the Stanford 17-yard line, only for McAndrew to sack Reed for an eight-yard loss. The Spartans never recovered, but still settled for a 39-yard field goal by the often-struggling Jared Strubeck for a 3-0 Spartans' lead.

A key for Stanford is getting its passing game going to take pressure of junior running back Gerhart, the Cardinal's primary offensive threat. But two Gerhart carries for eight yards and a hurried incompletion were all Stanford could muster on its second three-and-out series.

Reed had better success, completing his first six passes of the game for 50 yards out of the spread offense.

But, again, Stanford stifled another decent Spartan drive with a sack, this one by Erik Lorig on third-and-four at the Stanford 31.

The Cardinal finally earned its initial first down, on a Pritchard scramble to its own 22-yard line following a San Jose State punt.

End of first quarter: San Jose State 3, Stanford 0

Stanford's first quality series went 41 yards in 10 plays, but ended when Pritchard rolled right on third-and-10 and lofted a pass that was intercepted by diving cornerback Coy Francies at the San Jose State 21.

The play ignited a 79-yard drive the other way. Reed continued his accurate short-passing game, extending his perfect streak to his first 11 completions (for 77 yards). In last week's 35-10 victory over San Diego State, the Cal transfer completed his first 13.

San Jose State finally scored on a four-yard run off the left side by Brandon Rutley with 8:26 left in the quarter to give the Spartans a 10-0 lead. A key play was a facemask penalty on Stanford after Reed was sacked. That placed the ball at the Stanford 19.

Stanford finally came to life, on a pass from Pritchard to ... himself. Pritchard's pass was deflected by defensive tackle Jarron Gilbert and Pritchard snatched it out of the air and continued on for a 25-yard gain.

A few plays later, Pritchard again connected, this time to wide receiver Doug Baldwin, who broke a tackle across the middle and found room down the right side for, as the official's initially ruled, a 39-yard touchdown play. The ball had come loose when cornerback Christopher Owens punched the ball out with his right hand, with the ball flying out of the end zone. The question was where was the ball knocked out?

San Jose State called for a review, and officials indeed overturned the play, after replays showed that Owens knocked the ball before Baldwin crossed the goal line.

Soon after, Reed extended his consecutive completion streak to 14-for-14, but the Spartans were finally forced to punt.

Stanford's best offense continued to come via Pritchard's legs, as the quarterback scrambled for a first down on one play. Anthony Kimble then took over, running seven yards to the 13, and another 12 to the one.

Pritchard took it over on the next play, with a bootleg around right end for a one-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds left for his first career rushing touchdown.

Helping block on the play was Jim Dray, seeing his first game action since sustaining a serious knee injury midway through last season.

The drive went 64 yards on 10 plays. Pritchard led all rushers with 45 yards on six carries.

Reed completed his first 15 passes, for 98 yards, before an incompletion near the end of the half and drove the Spartans to the Stanford 19, with help from an unnecessary roughness call on Stanford's Clinton Snyder for a horse-collar tackle on San Jose's Yonus Davis on the final play of the half.

That allowed Strubeck to attempt a 36-yard field goal with 0:00 on the clock, but the try was wide.

Stanford totaled 188 first-half yards, to San Jose State's 181.

Halftime: San Jose State 10, Stanford 7

The Spartans got two medium-range completions from Reed to reach the Stanford 27. But McAndrew corralled Reed for a four-yard loss on an option keeper, and Pannel Egboh plowed up the middle to sack Reed for an eight-yard loss to end the drive.

It was Stanford's third sack, and came with Reed in the midst of an 18-for-19 performance (for 140 yards) to that point.

Pritchard, who was 6-for-14 for 94 yards in the first half, started the second half. He hit Baldwin and Kimble for first-down passes to kickstart the team's initial second-half drive.

Gerhart, limited to 27 yards on seven first-half carries, showed his form of last year's 140-yard effort against the Spartans. His tackle-breaking 29-yard run put Stanford into scoring range, reaching the San Jose State 29.

Zagory evened the score at 10-10 with a 37-yard field goal, with 5:54 left in the third quaerter. The 65-yard drive took 10 plays.

Stanford strong safety Sean Wiser stopped receiver David Richmond one-on-one on third and short, to end San Jose State's next series, giving Stanford an opportunity to take the lead.

Gerhart took advantage, breaking another tackle and requiring four defenders to bring him down for a 31-yard run to the San Jose State 33. That gave him 66 yards in the third quarter and 93 overall to that point.

But Stanford failed to gain yardage, with Pritchard -- San Jose State defensive end Carl Ehenacho in his face -- leading Sherman just too far on a long pass into the end zone on third down.

But Stanford still pulled into the lead, at 13-10, when Zagory hit a career-long 52-yard field goal with 1:49 left in the quarter. It was tied for the ninth-longest in school history.

Stanford forced a fumble on the final play of the quarter, with Lorig recovering.

End of third quarter: Stanford 13, San Jose State 10

Though Stanford reached the San Jose State 29-yard line, a penalty, and sack by linebacker Justin Cole, helped push the Cardinal back. Stanford punted to San Jose State, which took possession with 10:13 left in the fourth quarter.

Three consecutive tackles for losses by Stanford forced the Spartans to punt from their own goal-line. First defensive tackle Sione Fua caught Davis for a four-yard loss. A sack by blitzers Kris Evans and Snyder, and a linebacker Pat Maynor's tackle amounted to the others.

Taking possession at its own 45-yard line with 8:10 to play, Stanford could take command with a churning time-consuming scoring drive. But Gerhart, carrying three times, was stopped for a loss on third-and-one and Stanford was forced to punt without picking up a first down.

The Stanford defense came through again, with Keiser unleashing back-to-back sacks, the second forcing a fumble that was recovered by Lorig. It was Stanford's sixth sack of the game.

Lorig's second recovery of the game, with 4:45 left, gave Stanford the ball at San Jose State's seven-yard line.

But the Stanford offense faltered, failing to gain a yard. Gerhart was stopped for no gain, and Pritchard twice threw the ball away to avoid sacks, and without an open receiver.

Zagory made the fumble recovery pay off with a 24-yard field goal, his third successful try of the game, with 3:43 left.

Again, Stanford's defense came up big. Maynor and Lorig sacked Reed on fourth-and-six from the Spartans' own 40, with 1:41 left.

The eight sacks marked the most for Stanford since earning the same number against UCLA in 2003.

Gerhart followed it up with a two-yard touchdown run, with nine seconds left for the final margin.

Final score: Stanford 23, San Jose State 10

San Jose State 3 7 0 0 -- 10

Stanford 0 7 6 10 -- 16

SJS - FG Strubeck 39.

SJS - Rutley 4 run (Strubeck kick).

Stan - Pritchard 1 run (Zagory kick).

Stan - FG Zagory 37.

Stan - FG Zagory 52.

Stan - FG Zagory 24.

Stan - Gerhart 2 run (Zagory kick)