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Stanford head coach David Shaw pulled the curtain back ever so slightly on his quarterback competition, revealing not what he's looking for, but what he's not looking for in Andrew Luck's successor.

"They know the quickest way for those guys to lose the competition is to try to be Andrew," Shaw said. "That will lose someone the competition."

This has been a different spring for Shaw, who took over following Jim Harbaugh's exodus to the NFL and had the best quarterback in nation already in place. Shaw had helped develop Luck as Harbaugh's offensive coordinator, and knew there wasn't much tweaking required. This year's crop presents a fun, albeit different, challenge for the former NFL quarterbacks coach.

"There were a couple of times where I had to grab them and get my hands on them," Shaw said. "Some of those young guys are like clay and you get a chance to mold them. It was fun. It was enjoyable.

"The only thing that would be more enjoyable [will be] when someone takes the job and we plant them in there and give them a chance to play. It was completely different. It was different working with a battle for the back-up quarterback job to the best quarterback in the nation as opposed to battling for the starting job."

Still, no matter whether it's Brett Nottingham or Josh Nunes who emerges as Stanford's starting quarterback, there are going to be expectations to maintain the success Stanford has enjoyed the past few years.

"I'm not going to lie, there is still an Andrew Luck hangover going on down here in Palo Alto," Shaw said. "But we have some athletic, smart, accurate quarterbacks that understand what we do. ... Their job is to be efficient. Their job is to hand the ball to Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney and Anthony Wilkerson. To find Levine Toilolo and Zach Ertz and give Ty Montgomery a chance to play.

"As we always talk about, the quarterback's job here is to deal the cards. Get it to the playmakers. Make sure the offense runs efficiently. And the guy that does that the best will be the guy that starts."

In other Stanford news:

Linebacker Shayne Skov is on schedule with his rehabilitation from a season-ending knee injury suffered in Week 3 last season against Arizona. Shaw said he expects Skov to be ready by the start of fall camp, but they will keep a close eye on him. Some are already predicting Skov as a first-round pick in next year's NFL draft.

"We'll be very smart with him, getting into the more physical practices, just to make sure," Shaw said. "Shayne doesn't have to prove to me that he can play the game of football; Shayne has to prove to me that he's healthy. We're not going to put him in those potentially damaging situations until we know he's 100 percent ready to go. So early in training camp we'll take care of him. We'll watch him the first couple of days of pads. If there are no setbacks, we'll release him for complete, full-go activity. I expect him to play up to the level of his ability."

Last week we saw in an analysis by ESPN The Magazine and RecruitingNation that Stanford was the best school in the nation at getting the most production from out-of-state recruiting.

Well, there's a flipside to that coin.

As good as Stanford has been looking outside of the Golden State, it hasn't been too productive at landing California's finest. A similar analysis shows Stanford is the third-worst program at getting ESPNU 150 athletes from its own state.

From 2007 to 2011, Stanford landed just 2-of-73 ESPNU 150 athletes from California -- Anthony Wilkerson out of Tustin in 2010 and Josh Nunes from Upland in 2009.

Here's what LaRue Cook says about Stanford:

We gave Stanford props for its ability to go out of state to sign top prospects, but there's no ignoring the program's inability to create an elite pipeline in its state. (Meanwhile, UCLA has signed 12 in-state ESPNU 150 recruits over the last five years.) Sure, Cardinal fans can blame their program's struggles on academic constraints, but out of 73 players, surely more than two could qualify. In 2012, David Shaw doesn't have a single ESPNU 150 commit from California -- USC currently has four and UCLA has two -- but No. 4 OT Kyle Murphy (San Clemente) still has Stanford on his short list.

To which I say, so what? The analysis deals only with ESPNU 150 athletes. And I think we all know that whatever scouting service you trust, it isn't always bullet proof. Two-star players have gone on to greatness and five-stars have fizzled.

I say, consider some of the Stanford players who came out of California during that stretch who weren't ESPNU 150 prospects: Jonathan Martin (North Hollywood), Tyler Gaffney (San Diego), Levine Toilolo (San Diego), Zach Ertz (Danville), Delano Howell (Newhall). All remarkably productive and one who is expected to be drafted in the first round.

This type of analysis makes for great message board fodder, but read more into the results than projections -- and I think the Stanford coaching staff would agree. If you're looking strictly at the ranking numbers, then yes, Stanford hasn't been particularly successful as, say, USC, which has scored 33 ESPNU 150 recruits from California during that time span. By the way, what's Stanford's record against USC the last three years?

Stanford is a unique program that has to be examined with a different standard of criteria. The product on the field is what matters. The results are still out on Wilkerson since Stepfan Taylor has been carrying the load. And with Barry Sanders coming in, we might never know if Wilkerson could be a carry-the-load kind of running back.

It's an open quarterback competition next year, so we'll see who emerges and where Nunes lands.

This year's current crop of commits features just one player from California -- wide receiver Kodi Whitfield. So what? It also has four ESPNU 150 commits with the possibility of more.

The morale of the story: It shouldn't matter if they come from Los Angeles or Plymouth, Minn. (shout out to A.J. Tarpley), if they can play, they can play.

Like most regular readers of this blog, I live in California and was raised on Bay Area football and spent the early portions of my career covering Southern California high schools. There are only so many 6-4, 225-pound wide receivers that run 4.4 40s and only so many four- and-five stars that can be handed out. California is fertile ground, and fair game, for every school in the country.

My take: Stanford is doing just fine in California, and Texas, and Georgia and Arizona, and everywhere else they can find the athletes that fit the academic requirements, character and culture needed to be a football player at Stanford.

(Cue the Jan Brady voice) Andrew Luck, Andrew Luck, Andrew Luck!

It's all that anyone outside of the Bay Area talks about when the topic of Stanford football passes the lips.

Yeah, he's good. Really good. But he's certainly not the be-all, end-all when it comes to the Stanford offense. Lost in the Luck hyperbole is an incredibly efficient and potent rushing attack that more often than not takes a backseat to No. 12.

The Cardinal's run game will have to be at its best on Jan. 2 when Stanford takes on Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. There are yards to be had against a Cowboys rush defense that ranks 83rd nationally and yields 180 yards per game.

The greatest victim of this overshadowing is running back Stepfan Taylor, whom head coach David Shaw has called one of the most underrated running backs in the nation on more than one occasion.

"I think he plays 7 yards behind one of the best players in Stanford school history," Shaw told reporters after practice last week. "I think that's why he's underrated."

Taylor is the perfect mixture of speed, power and balance. He plays more compact than his 5-foot-11, 210-pound frame and often drags opponents for extra yards. For the second straight year, Taylor has rushed for more than 1,000 yards, netting 1,153 this season to go with eight touchdowns and 5.6 yards per carry. And he's done it rotating with three other backs plus a fullback who usually gets a few carries each game.

"We have a short-yardage, goal-line back that gets a lot of touchdowns [Jeremy Stewart], but Stepfan still has been effective in the red zone and catching passes," Shaw said. "He just does everything well. Does everything right. I'm sure at some point he'll get his just due.

"But at the same time, he doesn't care. He has fun. He loves playing. He recognizes that we have Tyler Gaffney and these other guys that can play, too. I think he just loves playing with his teammates."

Taylor, along with Gaffney, Stewart, Anthony Wilkerson and -- at least a couple of times each week -- fullback Ryan Hewitt make up a rushing attack that produces almost 208 yards per game and ranks 22nd nationally.

"We all pretty much do different things," said Taylor, the most well-rounded of the backs and the strongest pass-blocker. "They like to use us, and we all deserve to be on the field. They find ways to get all of us involved. Stewie has the power; Wilk has the speed off the edge. The coaches find ways to put us in the best spots."

Like all of the aforementioned backs, Gaffney was "the guy" coming out of Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego. So going to a running-back-by-committee wasn't easy to swallow. It's still not.

"It takes some adjustment, and I wouldn't say I like it," said Gaffney, who averages a team-high 6.4 yards per carry among players with at least 11 total carries. "You can't like it as a running back. You want the ball. You want to help the team as much as possible. There is a rhythm to the game where you feel how fast the flow is of the defense, whether they are real aggressive or playing back. You don't get to feel that rhythm because I'll be in for two or three plays and then out for 10. Or I'll be in for 10 and then out for three. You never really know how much you are going to play or when you're going to play. You are just waiting on the sideline for your number to be called."

And that breeds competition. Taylor knows Gaffney is lobbying for carries. Gaffney knows Wilkerson is lobbying for carries. Short-yardage specialist Stewart knows Hewitt could get the call on third-and-short.

"If you're not playing well, there is going to be a guy stepping up who will," Gaffney said. "You have to bring your A-game every carry and every play. I wouldn't say we're breathing down each other's necks, but for lack of a better term, that's what it is. You have a feeling that if you have a couple of bad runs, you might not be going back in, and they might let the other guy ride it out."

So, you have a brilliant quarterback who checks his running backs into the best play against the best defense, and you have four backs clawing at one another for carries. All that's missing is the best run-blocking offensive lineman in the country with a nasty attitude to boot. Oh yeah, Stanford has that, too.

"Football is a physical sport, and the point is to move the other guy," said guard David DeCastro, widely regarded as the most NFL-ready interior lineman in the country. "There is no magic pill you take that makes us run the ball well. It's practice and repetition and hard work. You're trying to push the other guy backwards. That's football."

The running back quartet has combined for 26 touchdowns and more than 2,000 yards on the ground this season. And, yes, even Luck has to get a lot of the credit for the success of the running game.

Shaw has spoken extensively about what Luck does pre-snap and how he coordinates the running game. So when lining up, do the running backs see the same things as Luck?

"I don't think anybody sees what he sees," Gaffney said. "When he puts us in a play, 99 times out of 100 we're in agreement that it is going to be our most successful rep."

Stanford Cardinal (11-1) vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys (11-1)

Jan. 2, 8:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Stanford take by Stanford blogger Kevin Gemmell: Welcome back to the BCS. The Cardinal return after smoking Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl last season -- many thinking it was the final game for coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Andrew Luck.

Harbaugh left, Luck stayed. And he turned in a Heisman-worthy season, throwing 35 touchdowns to nine interceptions, including a perfect 26-0 touchdown-interception ratio in the red zone.

With a trio of top-flight tight ends -- headlined by Coby Fleener -- Luck has proved why he's considered the No. 1 NFL prospect. But he's not the only top draft pick on the team. Offensive tackle Jonathan Martin is considered one of the two best left tackles in college football and guard David DeCastro is the best interior lineman in the country.

The tight ends -- Fleener, Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo -- have accounted for more than half of Luck's 35 passing touchdowns on the season.

But what makes Stanford go is its balance. Stepfan Taylor had his second straight 1,000-yard season, and he did it platooning with Tyler Gaffney, Jeremy Stewart and Anthony Wilkerson.

Defensively, Chase Thomas leads a front seven that is one of the best in college football. The loss of inside linebacker Shayne Skov in the third game of the season was a blow to the defense, but youngsters Jarek Lancaster and A.J. Tarpley have filled the void nicely -- steadily improving every week.

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Oklahoma State take from Big 12 blogger David Ubben: The Cowboys are best known for their offense, and for good reason. Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon are one of the nation's best pass-catch combos, and between Blackmon's physical nature and Weeden's accuracy, they're a nightmare for defenses.

Making matters more difficult is Joseph Randle, who has quietly had one of the best seasons of any running back in the Big 12. He's racked up 1,193 rushing yards with 23 (!) rushing touchdowns. Only three players in college football have more TDs. The first-year starter might be the Cowboys' secret weapon.

Defensively, the raw numbers aren't great for the Cowboys, but those rumors you've heard? They're true. The defense is a lot better than most give it credit. The Cowboys have an efficient defense that plays well when it counts, and ranks second nationally with a plus-20 turnover margin. Tough to beat that.

Quinn Sharp and Justin Gilbert make things interesting on special teams, too. Sharp leads the nation in touchbacks, is one of the Big 12's best place-kickers, and would be one of the nation's best in punting average -- if he had enough attempts. Gilbert is a dangerous return man who already has four touchdown returns in his first two seasons.

Stanford and Notre Dame are both moving on to bowl games -- but first they square off in the regular season finale for both teams. Notre Dame blogger Matt Fortuna and Stanford blogger Kevin Gemmell do their best to shake off turkey hangovers and bring insight into Saturday's matchup.

Kevin Gemmell: Happy post-Thanksgiving to you and yours, Matt. Seeing as Stanford and Notre Dame cross paths this week, it would stand to reason that the Stanford and Notre Dame blogs also come together the day before the game.

There are major bowl implications in this game for Stanford. What's the most important thing the Cardinal need to be on the lookout for when scouting the Irish?

Matt Fortuna: Kevin, same to you and your family as well. I think I'm still in a turkey coma from last night. Obviously, this is the biggest test Notre Dame will have faced all season long. Looking at the numbers throughout this season, I think the Irish's best bet for success is to move the ball through the air and take full advantage of Michael Floyd.

Jonas Gray's knee injury severely hampers Notre Dame's ground attack. The cast is largely unproven behind the smaller Cierre Wood, and Stanford's rushing defense is good enough to have seriously challenged the Irish backfield even if Gray took the field. The Cardinal's weakness, if they have any, would appear to be its pass defense. Tommy Rees will have to improve on his sub-par performance from last week and look more like the Rees from the Maryland game two weeks ago, when he completed 30 of 38 passes and sped up the tempo of the Notre Dame offense. If he can establish a rhythm early, I think we can brace ourselves for a pretty competitive contest.

I'd be remiss to not ask the Stanford blogger about Andrew Luck, so here we go: Should everyone in the Midwest believe the hype? I currently have him atop my ESPN.com Heisman ballot, but I'm wondering if things look as crisp up-close as they do from other parts of the country. What will Notre Dame's secondary need to do to contain Luck?

Kevin Gemmell: Well, if each player on the secondary can add four or five inches, that would be a good start. Luck is going to seek out his tight ends -- Coby Fleener (6-foot-6), Levine Toilolo (6-8) and possibly Zach Ertz (6-6) who hasn't played since the USC game because of a knee injury. Luck doesn't have the receiving corps to stretch the field, but he exploits his mismatches and if one of the Notre Dame defensive backs has one-on-one coverage with a tight end, look out, because Luck will find it.

As for believing the hype? Stanford head coach David Shaw believes it. He went on a pro-Luck tirade Tuesday, saying Luck is doing things no other college player has ever done. In that regard, then yes, believe the hype. Luck is the most intelligent and evolved college quarterback I have ever seen. He sets the formations and then calls the play. And he's good at it. The Cardinal are almost always running the optimal play against the optimal defense because Luck is calling it on the spot. It's pretty amazing to watch him orchestrate the offense.

I was just going over Stanford's record against marquee wide receivers and it's pretty good. They've slowed down Keenan Allen (Cal), Robert Woods (USC) and Juron Criner (Arizona). Since we're talking secondaries, tell me about Michael Floyd and what he brings.

Matt Fortuna: Allen had six catches for 97 yards. Woods had nine for 89. And USC's Marqise Lee added seven catches for 95 yards. I'm not sure if we have the same definition of "slowed down," Kevin. Michael Floyd is big (6-3, 224 pounds), fast and versatile. He has improved his downfield blocking this season, and he is lined up virtually anywhere on the field. Notre Dame likes to find him in the flat often and let him create. Look no further than early in the fourth quarter Saturday, when Floyd took a pass on the right side, did not get a proper block, reversed field completely and ended up with an 18-yard gain on the other end of the field. He is a first-round talent who may fall to the second round only because of his off-the-field history.

Looking at the offensive lines earlier in this week, I was surprised to see the combined weight of Stanford's starters (305 pounds) were only one pound more than Notre Dame's (304). The Cardinal obviously have a pair of first-rounders up front, but what is it about the unit that allows it to impose its will on opposing defenses?

Kevin Gemmell: Come on, Matt. You know better than to fall into the trap of looking at just final statistics. Allen had all six catches in the first quarter and then was blanked the next 45 minutes. Woods was kept out of the end zone until overtime. Pretty sure if Shaw had his choice, he'd prefer Floyd to do all of his damage in the first quarter and then be a non-factor for the rest of the game -- or to hold him without a touchdown for 60 minutes.

But I think we can both agree that getting the ball to Floyd is a priority for Notre Dame and stopping that is a priority for Stanford.

Stanford's offensive line likes to grind. They'll run the power to either side with Stepfan Taylor (who just went over 1,000 yards for the second consecutive year) and they'll rotate fresh backs in regularly -- Tyler Gaffney, Anthony Wilkerson, Jeremy Stewart -- and just pound away. What makes it fun to watch is they'll run essentially the same play out of a bunch of different looks. Sometimes they'll have a jumbo package with six or seven offensive linemen. Other times they'll have two fullbacks and three tight ends. They get funky with their formations and that allows them to lean on teams over the course of the game.

Speaking of offensive lines, Notre Dame is pretty good at keeping Rees' jersey clean. The protection seems solid. Is that a product of them, Rees getting rid of the ball quickly or a little bit of both?

Matt Fortuna: Both Rees and the offensive line have made strides throughout the season. The unit gave up five sacks in the month of September, two of which resulted in Rees fumbles, but the Irish did not allow a single sack from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, when they gave up three to Maryland. Even that seemed more like something that was bound to happen rather than a big breakdown in protection. Mike Golic Jr. has done a great job filling in for the injured Braxston Cave at center, and Rees has done a much better job of releasing the ball more quickly.

OK, Kevin, I don't know how much more talking I can do while still in this turkey-induced coma. Let's get right to it: Who do you got Saturday?

Kevin Gemmell: Well, because of the Thanksgiving week, we both posted our predictions on Wednesday, making this portion of our little chat a bit anti-climatic. And I am sure you got a laugh, as I did, that there was a (spoiler alert) one-point differential in our predictions. I have Stanford winning 31-21. I just don't see Andrew Luck losing (probably) his final home game at Stanford Stadium. I think the Cardinal are motivated to make an impression on voters -- in light of David Shaw's BCS comments on Tuesday -- and I think when you get right down to it, Stanford does a better job taking care of the ball and has more mismatches on offense. Notre Dame gets some points, but Stanford gets the win.

Before you attack the leftovers and fall back asleep, what's your take on why Stanford wins?

Matt Fortuna: Impossible to fall asleep with so many good games on today and tomorrow. The leftovers are only complementary pieces. Anyway, as you mentioned, I like Stanford as well, 31-20. I like the Cardinal for many of the reasons you do — Andrew Luck's last home game, David Shaw's edgier tone this week. But ultimately I think the Irish's young defensive line just won't have enough gas in the tank to hang with Stanford's offense for four quarters, at least not this early in most of their careers. Notre Dame's offense would have had a tough time keeping Stanford off the field as it was, but take big running back Jonas Gray out of the picture, and the situation becomes even less favorable for the road team.

LOS ANGELES -- Quick observations on an epic game in Southern California.

How the game was won: First, Stepfan Taylor scored from 2 yards out with 38 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 34-34. Then Taylor plowed in from 5 yards out in the third overtime period and Andrew Luck completed the 2-point conversion to Coby Fleener. USC’s Curtis McNeal fumbled to end the game.

Turning point: USC wide receiver Robert Woods failed to get out of bounds at the Stanford 35 as time expired. Despite two timeouts, USC was unable to get a field-goal attempt because Woods went for the sidelines rather than going down and taking a timeout.

Stat of the game: Two — the number of times Luck was sacked this game after being sacked just twice in the previous seven games. Both came on third down.

Best call: Stanford’s double-reverse, wide-receiver pass out of the wildcat. Running back Tyler Gaffney took the direct snap, handed off to Anthony Wilkerson on an end-around, who flipped it to Luck, who was lined up as a wide receiver. Luck then connected with Ty Montgomery for a 62-yard gain.

Unsung hero of the game: Cardinal linebacker A.J. Tarpley played his best game of the season, notching an interception in the first half and finishing the game with nine tackles. He also recovered McNeal’s fumble on the game’s final play.

Second guessing: With Stanford knocking on the door, trailing 27-24 in the fourth quarter, the Cardinal went back to the wildcat on third-and-8 on the USC 13 with 5:20 remaining. Gaffney took the direct snap and ran for just 2 yards. Eric Whitaker converted the 29-yard field goal to tie the game, but I wasn’t a fan of taking the ball out of Luck’s hands at a crucial point in the game.

What it means: The Cardinal are still in the conversation for a spot in the national championship game.

Sometimes, you just have to run the double-reverse, wide-receiver throw from the Wildcat formation.

The Cardinal have fought back from a 10-point deficit and re-taken the lead behind Andrew Luck and a little offensive innovation. First, Luck hooked up with fullback Ryan Hewitt on a 5-yard touchdown pass to cut USC's lead to 20-17.

On Stanford's next possession, running back Tyler Gaffney took the snap in the wildcat, handed off to Anthony Wilkerson, who then flipped it to Luck, who started off in the wide receiver hole. Luck connected with Ty Montgomery for a 62-yard gain. After converting a fourth-and-1 at the USC 4, Luck finished the drive himself, leaping in from 2 yards out to give Stanford the lead.

A few things to keep an eye on as No. 6 Stanford heads south to face USC on Saturday.

• Running with confidence: Stanford running backs are coming off the greatest game in school history. Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney both went for more than 100 yards against Washington, Anthony Wilkerson put together his strongest game of the season and Jeremy Stewart got the job done with his usual short-yardage production. Plus fullback Ryan Hewitt, who hasn't logged a carry in back-to-back games, had his strongest blocking performance of the season. As we know, you can't run if you can't block, which leads us to ...
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Cary Edmondson/US PresswireAfter a field day against Washington, Stepfan Taylor and his fellow Stanford running backs face a stiffer test at USC.
• ... Offensive line play: Stanford ran wild on a top-20 rush defense last week, but USC's is better, coming in 11th nationally and allowing just 91.1 yards per game. This is the toughest defensive front the Cardinal have faced this season, so all the improvement we've heard (and seen) from the offensive line will be put to the test. Stanford's bread-and-butter running play is the power, and it's up to quarterback Andrew Luck to make the right call against the right defensive alignment. He's been nearly perfect this season, according to head coach David Shaw. He'll need to be perfect again.
• Wrap up: The cornerbacks have the unpleasant task of dealing with Trojans wide receiver Robert Woods, whom Shaw called the most developed player for his age he's ever seen. He had a monster game against the Cardinal last season, and tackling in the secondary has been spotty, to say the least. Woods will get his catches, but it's what he does after those catches that will make or break this game -- particularly with safety Delano Howell expected to be on the sidelines for the second consecutive week.
• Time for Trees: After a relatively quiet week against Washington, it's time for the tight ends to get involved in the game. Stanford isn't as likely to have the same success on the ground as it did against Washington. Stanford has the biggest advantage of any team in the country with its speedy, oversized tight ends. Look for them to exploit that every chance they get. If they are covered up, look for Hewitt out of the backfield to have a big contribution in the receiving game.
• The other line: Stanford's defensive line and linebackers are pretty good, too -- especially when it comes to getting after the quarterback. The Cardinal rank fourth nationally with 3.6 sacks per game. That creates quite the standoff with USC's offensive line, which is fifth nationally in sacks allowed. Part of it is good blocking, but part of it is quarterback Matt Barkley being efficient and getting rid of the ball quickly. If the Cardinal can get to Barkley, the numbers swing severely in their favor. But it's a really big if.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- It shouldn’t be this easy. It just shouldn’t.

It shouldn’t be easy to rush for 446 yards. Not against a top 20 rush defense. It shouldn’t be easy to drop 65 points on anybody, let alone a Top 25 team. With the best quarterback in the country -- who passed up $xx,xxx,xxx amount of dollars to come back for another year -- it should be more than just him handing off 33 times.

“That’s our mentality,” said head coach David Shaw. “We want to by physical. We’re going to play the style of football that we love to play.”

Yeah, that sounds great. But it should be harder than this. Shouldn’t it?

“Just get the ball, follow your aiming point and follow the holes,” said running back Stepfan Taylor. “We just have to run, make somebody miss and go and score.”

Oh. That’s all?

Saturday night, the No. 8 Cardinal certainly made it look easy in their 65-21 win over No. 25 Washington at Stanford Stadium.

Taylor headlined a rushing attack that featured five touchdowns from four different running backs while amassing a school record 446 yards on the ground -- eclipsing the mark of 439 yards set in 1981 against Oregon State.

The record-setting run was a 38-yard touchdown from Anthony Wilkerson with a 1 minute, 25 seconds left in the game. It seemed that for Shaw, that was the only hard part of the game.

“To be perfectly honest, I was not trying to get (the record),” Shaw said. “That last run by Wilkerson, I was hoping we’d get the first down and then we’d kill the clock. We weren’t trying to set records or score more points. I wanted to end the game … but you can’t tell a runner not to run.”

Taylor led the way with 138 yards and a touchdown, followed by Tyler Gaffney (117 yards, one touchdown) and Wilkerson (93 yards, two touchdowns). Jeremy Stewart also provided his usual pop in short-yardage situations, scoring the game’s first points on a 2-yard touchdown run.

“We all got our opportunities and we made the most of it,” Stewart said. “… It was amazing. The line went out and did a great job. It was good for everyone that was involved.”

Speaking of the line…

“The last time I saw a line play like that was at USC in 2005,” said Washington coach Steve Sarkisian, who was a member of the Trojan coaching staff at the time. “ ... We’d defend a play, defend a play and the one time we got out of a gap -- bang. And it wasn’t 12 yards, it was 50. I tip my hat to them.”

This was supposed to be a showcase of quarterbacks. Andrew Luck entered the game with his usual hype, but Washington's Keith Price was the up-and-comer who was turning heads in the conference and on a national stage. Price finished 23-of-36 for 247 yards, a touchdown and an interception -- a 62-yard pick-six by safety Michael Thomas.

On the other side, Luck was his usual efficient self -- finishing 16-of-21 for 169 yards and two touchdowns.

Both played their own roles in their own ways. But Saturday night, Luck took a backseat.

“We’re more than just Andrew Luck,” Shaw said. “We’ve got a good team. We’ve got a physical team. If a team wants to take away the pass by playing deep safeties, we can run the ball. We’ve got backs after backs. We’re physical up front. We can play both styles of football. Andrew has thrown for over 300 a couple times this year. Now we rush for a bunch tonight. The fact that we can be a complete offense is what we strive for.”

And Washington -- while going blow for blow with the Cardinal early -- had no answers for Stanford’s offense, which scored on its first eight drives and on 11-of-12 possessions.

“It was a pretty good feeling,” said Gaffney, who set a career high with his 117 yards. “You gotta think they were preparing for our Heisman quarterback and we used the run against them.”

Or maybe they were preparing for the tight ends -- that amazing trio that has run circles around opposing secondaries this season.

“That’s a good possibility,” Shaw said. “I can’t speak for Washington. When we have (the three) on the field at the same time, those are three guys who have made a lot of big plays this year. Maybe they were protecting that. I don’t know.”

What he does know is that Washington’s safeties weren’t stepping up. Even when the Cardinal rushed for 128 yards in the first quarter (Washington was allowing just 97 yards per game), or when Taylor broke loose on a 70-yard run in the second quarter.

“Every game we want to run the ball -- ever since I’ve been here at Stanford, that’s what we hang our hat on and try to accomplish,” Luck said. “It was working early. Don’t fix it unless it’s broken, right? And it kept on working.”

This was supposed to be the first team that was going to challenge the Cardinal. The biggest criticism of Stanford was that the Cardinal have played a schedule worthy of a new Hostess product. And yet against their "stiffest" opposition of the season, they averaged 10.1 yards per carry, set a season high in scoring and total offense (615 yards). They had just one three-and-out series the entire game and went a perfect 7-for-7 in the red zone (making them 38-of-38 on the season).

For a team that doesn’t care about making statements, they certainly made one tonight.

And they made it look easy.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- It's getting easier to tell when Stanford coach David Shaw really likes something. He either gives short, succinct answers or long, thought-provoking responses. Rarely is he in between.

So when approached with Stanford's offensive numbers on first down, he was quick.

He likes it.

For the Stanford Cardinal, it's first down and good-to-go.

Following the Arizona game, Wildcats coach Mike Stoops noted how Stanford's offense "manipulated" his defense. Apt words. Through three games this season, the Cardinal have been anything but predictable -- especially on first downs.

Through the first quarter of the season, Stanford has rushed 53 times for 290 yards on first down -- an average of 5.4 yards per carry. This number includes Stepfan Taylor's 49-yard run against Arizona, the longest running play from scrimmage this season.

"That's our profile," Shaw said. "I think the yards per carry are really good. That's excellent."

In the air, quarterback Andrew Luck has been outstanding on first downs. He's completed 24-of-31 passes for 390 yards, no interceptions and three touchdowns. Of his 786 total passing yards, almost 50 percent have come on first down. He's also completing 77 percent of his passes on first down -- well ahead of his season average of 67.1 percent.

Shaw said he draws a lot of his offensive philosophies from working with Jon Gruden -- who Shaw said always prided himself on having one of the best first-down rushing teams in the country.

The rational is simple -- a good gain on first down opens up the playbook for all sorts of options on second down. This is where Stanford has been fantastic with play-action. Of course, not every drive that opens with a good play is going to be a touchdown -- nor is it going to be a failure. But the chances of extending drives, and therefore scoring points, shoots up drastically when faced with second-and-four rather than second-and-9.

Taylor, obviously, leads the way on first down. He's carried the ball 35 times on first down and averages 5.4 yards per carry. Both of Tyler Gaffney's rushing touchdowns have come on first down and the junior is averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Not much left to say from Shaw.

"I like those numbers a lot," he said.

He's happy.

Three games into Stanford's 2011 season, some interesting statistical trends are starting to emerge for the No. 5 Cardinal -- and specifically quarterback Andrew Luck.

The Heisman leader in the clubhouse through the first quarter of the season has completed 57 of 85 passes for 786 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception with a completion percentage of 67.1 percent. All respectable, learning toward impressive, numbers.

We know about the tight ends -- aka, the towering trio. We also know that Luck lost his leading receivers from last season, Doug Baldwin and Ryan Whalen.

I'm a fan of statistics, yet I also realize that number-crunching never tells the whole story. But I do believe it can give you a nice glimpse into the personality of a team. So armed with the Numbers app on my iPad and a sense of curiousity and adventure, I set out to examine just how Luck is distributing the ball.

The target group has been separated into three categories: wide receivers, tight ends and running backs (which includes the fullback). Note: All stats are for Luck only and not the backup quarterbacks. For example, tight end Coby Fleener has six catches for 136 yards and a touchdown on the season. But for our purposes, he has five catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns which came from Luck.

THE TARGET GROUPS

Of Luck's 85 passing attempts, the wide receivers have been targeted 40 times (47 percent), the tight ends have been targeted 27 times (32 percent) and the backs have been targeted 17 times (20 percent). One of Luck's pass attempts did not have a clear target and is undefined (1 percent).

Right off the bat, this clearly tells us Luck's first looks have primarily been to the wide receivers. And no one has gotten more looks than Chris Owusu. The receiver has been targeted 24 times and has 16 catches (catches the ball 66 percent of the time it's thrown to him). Receiver Griff Whalen is third on the team with 12 targets, but has just six catches (50 percent).

As a group, the receivers have 24 catches to go with their 40 targets (60 percent). That's a lot of calories being burned on the wide receivers with not a lot of payoff. Owusu has the lone receiving touchdown for the group (13 percent of Luck's total touchdowns). As a unit, the receivers have 312 receiving yards (40 percent of Luck's total).

The tight ends, as you'd expect, have delivered the most bang for Luck's buck. Luck has targeted the tight ends 27 times and the unit has 18 receptions (66 percent). The trio has 326 receiving yards (41 percent of Luck's total) and six touchdowns (75 percent of Luck's total). Zach Ertz has received the most looks, 14 targets and nine catches (64 percent), followed by Fleener's seven targets and five catches (71 percent) and Levine Toilolo, six targets and four catches (66 percent).

The running backs are only targeted 20 percent of the time, but have the highest completion percentage of the three groups for obvious reasons -- shorter, higher-percentage passes. The backs have been targeted 17 times and have 15 catches (88 percent). Interesting to see that fullback Ryan Hewitt has been targeted 10 times -- more than all of the other running backs combined (Stepfan Taylor three, Tyler Gaffney two, Jeremy Stewart one, Anthony Wilkerson one). Hewitt has the only receiving touchdown from the running backs.

Luck is putting in the effort to get the ball to the wide receivers. But the results haven't been as successful as when he throws to tight ends. There have been a few drops and a few throw-aways by Luck, which all factors in. Remember, stats don't tell the whole story. But it's an interesting look into the passing game three games into the season.

Between Stepfan Taylor's junior and senior year at Mansfield High School in Texas, the Tigers underwent a complete offensive overhaul. In came a new coaching staff. In came the pro-style offense. Out went the spread attack.

No one was happier than Taylor.

"I really feel the switch we made when we got to Mansfield has helped him in his collegiate career," said Jeff Hulme, Taylor's coach at Mansfield. "We run a pro-style offense with a lot of downhill running, counters and play-action passes."

Taylor had rushed for a very respectable 1,586 yards and 21 touchdowns as a junior. Pretty puffy numbers for a running back in the spread. But once he became the focal point of the offense, Taylor -- and his numbers -- simply exploded. He went on to set a single-season school record of 2,463 yards to go with 33 touchdowns. He graduated as the school's all-time leading rusher with 4,792 yards.

"There are not enough adjectives to describe Stepfan," Hulme said. "He was amazing to watch not only in games, but also how he practiced. He never took a lazy step on the field or in the classroom. He was one young man who I never had to worry about. He was a leader that led by example, and when he spoke everyone listened."

Now the Stanford junior is in a similar offensive system. The competition is a little stiffer so the numbers aren't quite as gaudy. But for the second straight season, he's the No. 1 guy amongst a very deep crop of running backs.

And he's humble.

"You go in when the coaches tell you to go in," Taylor said. "We don't have any selfish players. I think that's why we're as successful as we are right now. We all have our own special talents and abilities and what we bring to the field. The coaches see that and they are going to pick the right time to get us on the field."

Taylor's time just happens to come a little more frequently. He's coming off a career performance against the Arizona Wildcats, rushing for 153 yards on 22 carries. His run of 49 yards is the longest of the season (eclipsing fullback Geoff Meinken's 40-yard run against Duke, something he playfully vowed to do last week).

The No. 5 Cardinal (3-0, 1-0) are on bye this week before resuming play Oct. 1 when they host UCLA. Through three games this season, he's rushed for 289 yards and two touchdowns. He's coming off a sophomore campaign where he carried 223 times for 1,137 yards. At this pace, he'll pass last season's yards. And it's likely his workload will increase in the coming weeks.

In the first two games, Stanford wasn't challenged in the fourth quarter, so a lot of work went to some of the other backs. But against Arizona, coach David Shaw needed Taylor to be reliable in the third and fourth quarters. And Taylor didn't fail his coach.

"We haven't needed in the second half to be as physical or leave Stepfan in the first two games and we've rotated quite a bit," Shaw said. "It's the first time we've been in a tight game in the second half where we were going to pound the rock and be physical. We put Stepfan in and he played great. Every time we've counted on him he's come through for us."

By this point in the season, Stanford's depth at running back shouldn't come as a surprise. Anthony Wilkerson finally had a break-out run against the Wildcats. Tyler Gaffney and Jeremy Stewart have been reliable and explosive in relief of Taylor. The fullbacks have also gotten their carries and performed well.

But Shaw went out of his way to call Taylor "special" following the Arizona win.

Taylor has added on some extra weight this season. The good kind. The kind that allows you to drag linebackers a couple extra yards without losing the ability to outrun safeties.

"He's stronger. He's more powerful. And he's more explosive," Shaw said.

But Taylor doesn't want to talk about his accomplishments. He touted the offensive line -- as any good running back should -- and praised the tight ends for their blocking and pass-catching abilities.

"We need to be able to stretch the field and running the ball well will help us in the passing game," Taylor said. "It's a good feeling to have a big game. But it was a big game for the offensive line and the tight ends as well. They all played their tails off. But it was a nice feeling knowing that when you're patient, those big runs are going to come."

And more are likely on the horizon. UCLA ranks 108th out of 120 FBS schools against the run, yielding 215 yards on the ground per game.

For the second straight week the Stanford Cardinal went on the road and came away with a convincing victory. Only this time, the weather was hotter (though not as muggy), the opponent was bigger, stronger, faster and the 'Zona Zoo in Tucson was far more hostile than the couple of thousand basketball fans who decided to take in a football game at Duke. Cameron Crazies, they were not. Here's a look back at some of the highs and lows of Stanford's 37-10 win over Arizona.

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  Matt Kartozian (US Presswire)Stanford running back Anthony Wilkerson's touchdown on fourth down was a highlight of the Cardinal's win over Arizona.
  Highlight reel: Anthony Wilkerson's 24-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-24 was a great call and was executed to perfection. With three backs behind him, Luck faked the belly dive to the fullback. Watch the replay and see the defensive end commit to the misdirection. That allowed Wilkerson to take the pitch on the backside and from there, it was a foot race. Great call, great run.
• Best play: The play-action passing was clicking for the Cardinal all night. And there are several plays that could have fallen into this category. But Luck's 34-yard touchdown pass to Levine Toilolo -- the first of the tight end's career -- gets the style points. Not only was Toilolo wide open, but fellow tight end Zach Ertz was open as well and actually reached up for the ball. Watch the entire Arizona defense sell out on the run. But if you're the Wildcat secondary, how do you miss the 6-foot-8 and the 6-foot-6 guys running right passed you?
• Best gamesmanship: It came from Arizona coach Mike Stoops in the first quarter. Stanford's Jordan Williamson lined up for a chip-shot field goal at the Arizona 2-yard line. But he let the clock wind down for a delay of game call that would have given him a little more space to kick. But Stoops wisely declined the penalty. Which I guess is freezing the kicker by making him stand closer. Either way, Williamson converted the 20-yard kick for a 3-0 Stanford lead and the Cardinal never looked back.
• Who's hot? Take your pick of Stepfan Taylor or Toilolo. Both had career nights. But we'll go with Taylor, who rushed for 153 yards, including a season-best 49-yard run. He didn't find the end zone, but he found an average of 7 yards every time he touched the ball.
• Who's not? This is starting to become a weekly trend -- the who's not is once again the opponent's offensive line, which leaked all through the game and allowed quarterback Nick Foles to be brought down five times. The Cardinal have 11 sacks in their last two games and 13 on the season.
• The good: After allowing Foles to complete his first 17 passes (for an average of 10.7 yards per completion), the secondary tightened and the pass rush quickened and Foles was just 7-of-16 from that point on. Not an outstanding performance from the secondary -- but steady, and better than we saw in the previous two weeks.
• The bad: Losing Shayne Skov -- even for a half, is bad. He brings so much more than just tackles to the Cardinal run defense. An update on his condition is expected sometime today. If he's gone for an extended amount of time, it will be a massive blow to the linebacking corps. They are deep at linebacker, but Skov is irreplaceable.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Stanford leads Arizona 16-10 at the half.

• Best player: It was linebacker Shayne Skov until he was hurt in the second quarter. Kicker Jordan Williamson has been fantastic, converting field goals of 20, 33 and a career-long 45. He's also had more depth on his kickoffs.
• Best call: Without a doubt, the fourth-and-1 call at the Arizona 24-yard line. A misdirection pitch that forced the defensive end to bite on the initial pitch. Anthony Wilkerson took the flip on the backside and then scampered 24 yards for the score.
• What Stanford needs to do: Stay balanced. The Cardinal are running the ball well. The loss of Skov -- who was carted off from the sidelines -- is a big one. They can't let that emotionally deflate them. Same with tight end Coby Fleener on offense, who hasn't returned since taking a big shot in the first quarter. His return for the second half is unknown. He has been walking the sidelines, but without his helmet.
• What Arizona needs to do: Fortunately for them, Andrew Luck isn't playing a great game. Running the ball doesn't appear to be an option, which was predictable. Nick Foles is proving to be as accurate a quarterback as expected. Their best chance is to stay in the air. There is great risk being a pass-only team. But with that comes great reward.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona got its first points of the game on the second play of the second quarter with a 27-yard field goal from Jaime Salazar. Which means Stanford's defense has yet to give up any points in the first quarter all season.

Arizona quarterback Nick Foles completed two big passes as the quarter started to wind down. That seems to be the only way they'll move the ball. After one quarter, Arizona has -6 yards rushing.

Kudos to offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton for his call on Stanford's fourth-and-1 in the first quarter. A misdirection pitch to Anthony Wilkerson that went for a 24-yard rushing touchdown. Perfect call on fourth down. The defensive end bit on the play and Wilkerson turned the corner untouched.