Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

There are strong indications that Stanford's passing game will be much improved this fall, which should be enough to get the Cardinal back to a bowl game.

The Cardinal, who open at Washington State on Sept. 5, completed their final scrimmage Thursday, and starting quarterback Andrew Luck and senior backup Tavita Pritchard both turned in strong performances.

Luck completed 10-of-13 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown. That TD was a 60-yard bomb to speedster Chris Owusu. That's not the sort of thing Stanford did last fall when it ranked ninth in the Pac-10 with just 152 yards passing per game.

It's also encouraging that Pritchard also looked sharp, completing 6-of-8 passes for 53 yards.

Here's a reason for the more consistent play at quarterback: depth at receiver.

Fourteen receivers caught passes in the scrimmage. Coach Jim Harbaugh has noted that Stanford played games last fall with just three healthy receivers.

Stanford's backup running backs also got plenty of work. Freshman Stepfan Taylor carried seven times for 73 yards, including a run of 50 yards which set up a 20-yard TD run on the next play. He also caught one pass for 30 yards.

Jeremy Stewart carried four times for 23 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown run.

“We ran more plays than we intended but our guys are building up a necessary callous to contact," Harbaugh told reporters after the scrimmage. “We played on a much higher level than a week ago. Our receivers did a real nice job today catching the ball. They are in a very good rhythm right now with Andrew.”

And therein we have our Harbaughian Phrase of the Day "necessary callous to contact."

That just about sums up what preseason camp is all about.