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The Foster Farms Bowl: Stanford 45, Maryland 21

The Cardinal entered the Foster Farms Bowl against Maryland as the biggest favorite of all the teams playing in bowl games, and it didn't take long to see why. After a season of frustrating losses and inconsistent production from the offense, the Cardinal finally put things together in the final two regular season games against Cal and UCLA, and Tuesday night's performance was the team's most complete effort yet.

The 117th Big Game: Stanford 38, California 17

The more things change, the more they remain the same. It was that moment when your fourteen-year-old younger brother gets tired of flexing his young muscles in front of the bedroom mirror and decides it's time to challenge you, time to end the wedgies and the charlie horses, time to take the last slice of pizza in the box for once and hold the remote control, time to walk through the house with pride instead of apprehension. He's had enough. He walks out into the front yard, and right in front of God, your girlfriend, and the rest of the neighborhood, he challenges you to a fight. He challenges the natural order of things. But of course, we know how it turns out.

And so it was on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley. Younger brother Cal had scrapped its way to a 5-5 record on the season and had designs on doing the unthinkable. They sought the Axe; they were denied.

Utah 20, Stanford 17 (2OT)

A friend of mine who hadn't been able to watch Stanford's double-overtime defeat at the hands of the Utah Utes asked me if the game had been exciting. I'm not sure anyone -- not even a Utah fan excited by the victory -- would describe what happened on Saturday afternoon at Stanford Stadium as "exciting." It was a battle between two teams with dominant defenses and inconsistent offenses. Utah won the game, but it would be more accurate to say that they survived.

Oregon 45, Stanford 16

Well, I suppose now we know that the Ducks do not have a Stanford problem. Oregon's decisive 45-16 victory over the Cardinal proved that and two other things -- first, the Ducks are certainly one of the four best teams in the country and deserving of a spot in the College Football Playoffs, and second, Marcus Mariota is the best collegiate football player in America. It also revealed a few things about the Cardinal, but we'll get to that later. For now, the game.

Arizona State 26, Stanford 10

Twelve hours later, I'm still not sure where to begin with this game, so I guess I'll start at the top. The Cardinal arrived in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday looking to build on the offensive success they enjoyed last week against Washington State, and all signs pointed towards another Stanford win. After all, the Cardinal beat ASU twice last year and hadn't dropped a game to the Sun Devils since 2008. Even though the struggles of the Stanford offense have been well documented, there was nothing frightening about the Arizona State defense through their first five games. Surely the Cardinal would use this win in the desert to build on their momentum and head into the back half of the schedule with a strong head of steam. That was the expectation, but instead the exact opposite happened.

Stanford 34, Washington State 17

The Washington State defense was supposed to be just what the doctor ordered to cure what ailed the Stanford offense, and that proved to be the case almost immediately.

Notre Dame 17, Stanford 14

When the Stanford Cardinal took the field in South Bend wearing the road whites, the stage was set for a statement game. If there's one sure way for a team to vault itself into the national championship discussion, it's to go on the road and defeat a highly-ranked team. In Notre Dame, the Cardinal had a perfect target. Even though the Irish came into the game undefeated and ranked ninth in the nation, they hadn't yet been tested, and there were some observable flaws. Most experts -- at least those not wearing blue and gold -- even expected Stanford to emerge with the victory. As we know now, it didn't turn out that way.

Stanford 20, Washington 13

Last year Ty Montgomery took the game's opening kickoff against Washington and raced 99 yards for a touchdown; it looked for a moment on Saturday afternoon as if he were going to do the same thing. He took the ball straight up the middle of the field and bulled his way through a few attempted arm tackles, but just when he separated from the pack and readied to drop into fourth gear, he was pulled down from behind at the Husky 35 after a 62-yard return.

Kevin Hogan and the Stanford offense was only able to manage a single first down, and the opening drive stalled at the 18, but Jordan Williamson came in to nail the 35-yard field goal and give the Cardinal an early 3-0 lead.

Stanford 35, Army 0

After last week's disheartening loss to USC, the matchup with Army could have been looked at in two different ways. This would either be a game that would give the Cardinal an opportunity to take out the frustrations from seven days ago and come away with a convincing win, or it would be one that would create even more frustration if the team came out flat and emotionless and failed to impress. Well, it was a little of both.

USC 13, Stanford 10

So imagine you slept through Saturday afternoon's game and woke up to learn the following facts:

• Stanford's offense outgained USC's by more than 100 yards.
• Stanford ran more plays than USC, 68 to 59.
• Kevin Hogan threw for 150 yards more than USC's Cody Kessler.
• Every Stanford possession reached at least the USC 32.

Certain victory for the Cardinal, right? Somehow it didn't work out that way.