November 19, 2009

Steve Megargee
Rivals.com College Football Staff Writer

The latest edition of the Pac-10's fiercest rivalry figured to feature a Heisman-contending running back from a team with legitimate Rose Bowl aspirations.

But who expected that guy to be Stanford's Toby Gerhart?

This was supposed to be the season that Jahvid Best and California threatened USC's seven-year reign atop the Pac-10 standings. Best instead has battled injuries and California (7-3 overall, 4-3 in the Pac-10) has struggled with inconsistency as it heads into Saturday's "Big Game" with Stanford (7-3, 6-2).

California's troubles have allowed Stanford to emerge as the Bay Area's glamour team, though that's a bit of a misnomer. There's nothing glamorous at all about the way the Cardinal have pushed around their Pac-10 foes.

"That's kind of the mentality we had going into this year," said Gerhart, who has rushed for 1,395 yards to rank third in the nation. "We wanted to prove people wrong, prove that an elite academic institution can play top-tier football and go against those kinds of misconceptions."

By the end of the season, this program could be known for its brawn as much as its brains. The Cardinal have soared to 17th in the BCS standings and have remained in the thick of the Pac-10 race by relying on the attributes of a schoolyard bully.

They throw the first punch: Stanford has outscored opponents 105-47 in the first quarter and 209-105 in the first half.

They protect their own turf: The Cardinal have gone 9-1 at home in the past two seasons after posting a 3-16 mark at Stanford Stadium from 2005-07.

They hog the ball: Stanford has held the ball for an average of 33:13 per game to lead the Pac-10 and rank fifth in the nation in time of possession. The Cardinal also have averaged 507.7 yards of total offense in their past four games.

Stanford's physical approach to the game reflects the personality of Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh, a former Michigan quarterback whose brash nature brought a breath of fresh air to a program that had grown stale.

Harbaugh irritated his alma mater a couple of years ago when he compared the academic standards for student-athletes at Michigan and Stanford, with the decided advantage to Stanford. This season, he called Stanford's Andrew Luck the best quarterback in the country at a time when the redshirt freshman wasn't well-known outside the West Coast.

His team continually has backed up his big talk.

"First and foremost, the credit goes to the players," Harbaugh said. "They're the ones that put in the hard work in the weight room and on the practice field and have taken on that [physical] identity and made that important to our football team. Without that, it wouldn't be possible.

Nobody exemplifies that as much as Gerhart.

Before the season, Gerhart boldly announced that he wanted to run for 2,000 yards. Gerhart will need a strong finish to reach that goal, but it would be unwise to bet against him.

"I felt I was in better shape. I knew our offensive line would be good," said Gerhart, a 6-foot-1, 235-pounder. "I knew Andrew Luck would be good and could spread the defense and make the running lanes a little larger. This year I would get more touches and figured there was the potential for [2,000 yards]."

Gerhart leads all running backs with 19 touchdown runs (Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs tops all players with 22) and has rushed for at least 120 yards in four consecutive games. Gerhart also has come up huge in Stanford's biggest games, as he followed up a 223-yard effort against Oregon by rushing for 178 yards last week against USC.

How good has Gerhart been? Better than Best.

Best emerged as a Heisman front-runner after running for at least 131 yards in each of his first three games, but he has reached the 100-yard mark just twice since then and will miss his second consecutive game Saturday as he recovers from a concussion.

California's lack of a consistent passing attack led to opposing defenses to focus on slowing Best, who somehow still has managed to rush for 867 yards and 12 touchdowns on only 141 carries. Best's concussion has moved the spotlight to Gerhart, who has surged into Heisman contention.

"That's always been like a dream," Gerhart said.

Gerhart has benefited from running behind one of the nation's best lines. Stanford ranks 10th in the nation in rushing and has allowed just six sacks - only Boise State has surrendered fewer - with a line that features two redshirt freshman starters (left tackle Jonathan Martin and right guard David DeCastro).

The strength of the line comes back to Harbaugh. He continually reminded his players how they needed to avoid a repeat of the 2008 season, when Stanford lost its last three games to finish 5-7 and out of bowl contention.

"Everything was about competing, getting bigger, getting stronger, getting faster and competing against one another every single day. He continually repeated 'being physical, being physical, being physical.' The results are starting to show."

Harbaugh also has led by example. Gerhart noted that when he and his teammates arrive in the weight room early each morning, Harbaugh already is there and works out alongside them.

"It just shows what kind of coach he is,'' Gerhart said. "He's a player's coach. He can relate to us, motivate us. He's running around in the weight room yelling just like he was one of us. It definitely adds to our motivation."

Although the Cardinal already are bowl eligible for the first time since 2001, they now have a legitimate shot at earning a Rose Bowl bid. They're about to play their most hated rival. And they're also eager to prove they can overcome the distractions that come along with heightened expectations.

Harbaugh has tried to guard against what he refers to as "the ills of hubris and overconfidence" by relying on the lessons he learned from his own college coach.

"[Former Michigan coach] Bo Schembechler used to tell us all the time you're either getting better or you're getting worse," Harbaugh said. "You never, never stay the same."

Gerhart doesn't expect overconfidence to be a problem. Stanford already has learned its lesson. In its second game of the season, Stanford blew a 17-3 halftime lead and lost 24-17 to Wake Forest. Five weeks later, Stanford fell 43-38 to Arizona after leading 28-13 in the second quarter and 38-29 at the end of the third period.

Stanford's performances against USC and Oregon suggest the Cardinal have discovered how to bury opponents rather than letting them back into the game. They're not about to change that approach now.

"I don't think there's any complacency of being bowl eligible and happy where we're at," Gerhart said. "This is a big rivalry game. That makes it that much sweeter [to win] and that much more important. I don't think there's any lack of focus. If anything, we're focusing more."

The general public won't allow Stanford to lose its focus. Heck, the wild nature of the Pac-10 race has developed into such a conversation starter that Harbaugh can't even go home without getting an earful.

"My next-door neighbor is a USC grad. Ironically, her husband's an Ohio State fan," Harbaugh said. "She's been very defiant since the game and assures me that next year will be different."

For now, it's the entire Pac-10 landscape that looks different than expected.

Steve Megargee is a national writer for Rivals.com. He can be reached at smegargee@rivals.com.