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The Sun Bowl: Stanford 25, North Carolina 23

There were twenty-five seconds left in the 2016 Sun Bowl when Solomon Thomas put his hand on the ground for what would be the final play of his Stanford career. North Carolina had scored a touchdown only moments before, drawing to within two points of the Cardinal, and now Tarheel quarterback Mitch Trubisky stood across the line from Thomas, crouched below center and awaiting the snap that would determine the outcome of the game. It was over in a blink. Thomas shot out of the starting blocks and burst through the Carolina line almost untouched. Trubisky was on the run immediately, barely a step ahead of his pursuer, and North Carolina's carefully designed play was suddenly a fire drill. Trubisky's mobility will serve him well in the NFL, but it wasn't enough on this play. Thomas tracked him down in only a few strides, grabbed a fistful of his powder blue jersey, and spun him to turf to end the Tarheel hopes and secure the victory for the Cardinal.

Stanford 17, Notre Dame 10

Once upon a time the Stanford offense purred like a cheetah and struck fear into the hearts of defensive coordinators up and down the Pac-12. Expectations were high for this year's offense, with talent and experience returning at every position except for one, but the Cardinal has struggled to put points on the board, and the wins have been ugly, the losses even uglier.

But here's the thing. Some people might describe last Saturday's victory over Notre Dame as an ugly win, but I'd argue that there are few things more beautiful than defeating the Irish in South Bend. In fact, given the state of the program as it limped into town with seven starters either limited or out due to injury, and considering the back-to-back thrashings at the hands of Washington and Washington State in the weeks leading up to this contest, nothing could have been more beautiful than this 17-10 win.

Washington 44, Stanford 6

It really isn't as bad as you think it is. Stanford's 44-6 loss to Washington started out bad and got worse quickly and consistently over the course of three hours last weekend. Friday nights are typically reserved for high school football, and the Stanford team that travelled to Seattle to take on the Huskies resembled an overmatched high school squad, struggling in all phases of the game and showing glaring weaknesses in areas which have typically been strengths. But it really isn't as bad as you think it is.

Stanford 22, UCLA 13

Pasadena (GMC) -- Centuries and centuries ago during the reign of the Aztec empire, slaves were often sacrificed to the gods. After binding a subject to a stone slab, a priest would carve the heart out of his chest and hold the organ up to the sun for the victim to see as his final breaths rattled from his lungs. Much the same thing happened in the Rose Bowl on Saturday night as the Stanford Cardinal ripped the collective heart out of a UCLA team that had looked all but assured of finally getting a win in a series that has now gone towards the Cardinal nine games in a row.

Stanford 27, USC 10

While we've definitely seen stranger things happen in the past eleven games between Stanford and USC, this year's contest just might have proved that things aren't as upside down as you might think. It's time to accept this new reality, one in which Stanford, not USC, is the conference favorite, Stanford is the team with national championship aspirations, Stanford has the lightning quick athletes, and Stanford has the Heisman candidate. For much of the past decade the Cardinal and the Trojans have engaged in battles that often went down to the final possession, but these past three games have seen three convincing Stanford victories by a combined score of 109-63. This win wasn't a surprise, it's just the way things are now.

Stanford 26, Kansas State 13

The sun was still high enough in the sky above Stanford Stadium to filter through the light towers and surrounding trees and cast wide swaths of sunlight across the field as Christian McCaffrey stood near his own goal line to receive the first kick of the Cardinal's 2016 season. The last time we had seen McCaffrey on a football field had been on the first day of the year when he announced to the world -- or at least to those who didn't already know -- that even if he hadn't won the Heisman Trophy, he was undoubtably the best college football player on the planet, one of the best ever to play the game.

So when Kansas State's Ian Patterson put his foot into the ball and sent it hurtling towards McCaffrey, a fan could be excused for filling those last few seconds of anticipation with thoughts of all that happened in the previous autumn and what might unfold over the coming months. The summer had been filled with questions about the quarterback, concerns about a rebuilt offensive line, whispers about a stronger, faster McCaffrey, and dreams of a playoff berth -- the kinds of issues that are common to college football fans across America. But when he football finally fell into McCaffrey's arms at the 8, he returned it 28 yards to the 36, the season was underway, and those issues faded into the background.