2009 Stanford Cardinal football team The 2009 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season . The Cardinal was coached by third - year coach Jim Harbaugh and played their home games at Stanford Stadium in Stanford , California . Recruiting . Stanford ' s 2009 recruiting class was ranked 15th in the nation by Scout . com and 20th by Rivals . com , and included these top - rated recruits : Schedule . Game notes . Washington State . Toby Gerhart rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns , and redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Luck made his collegiate debut by throwing for 193 yards and a touchdown pass to Chris Owusu as Stanford defeated Washington State in Pullman . The Cardinal dominated the first half , but as the second half began , the Cougars took the early momentum , driving 80 yards and scoring on a 5 - yard pass from Kevin Lopina to Jared Karstetter . However , Owusu answered immediately for the Cardinal with an 85 - yard kickoff return for a touchdown to keep the game out of reach . Wake Forest . Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck threw two first half touchdown passes to Ryan Whalen , and Nate Whitaker added a 54 - yard field goal — the longest Stanford field goal in 20 years — to give the Cardinal a 17 – 3 lead at the half . But the Demon Deacons dominated the second half with three unanswered touchdowns : a 3 - yard run from Mike Rinfrette , a 9 - yard pass from quarterback Riley Skinner to Jordan Williams , and then , with 2 seconds left in the game , a one - yard keeper by Skinner to give Wake Forest its first lead in the game and the 24 – 17 victory . San Jose State . Stanford ' s Chris Owusu returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to set the pace as Stanford routed San Jose State 42 – 17 . Owusu also caught a touchdown pass from Andrew Luck , and Toby Gerhart rushed for two touchdowns . The Cardinal added another special teams touchdown on Richard Sherman ' s 48 - yard punt return , and Corey Gatewood rounded out the scoring with a 23 - yard interception return for a touchdown . The Spartans scored on a 1 - yard pass from Jordan La Secla to Jalal Beauchman , a 14 - yard run from Lamon Muldrow , and a 30 - yard field goal by Tyler Cope . Washington . The Cardinal rushed for 322 yards , including a career - best 200 yards from Toby Gerhart to down the Huskies . For the second week in a row , Chris Owusu returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown to start the scoring for Stanford . Soon after , the Huskies tied the score on a dropped lateral from Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck to tight end Jim Dray ; neither Luck nor Dray realized the throw was not a forward pass , but Washington ' s Justin Glenn picked up the ball and ran it 51 yards for the touchdown . However , on the next play from scrimmage , Gerhart ran 60 yards for a score to put Stanford ahead to stay . UCLA . Coming into the game , the Bruins were the only undefeated team in the Pac - 10 Conference although they had yet to a play another Pac - 10 team . Toby Gerhart , the Cardinal ' s 237 - pound tailback who had 138 yards against UCLA last year , is averaging 129 yards a game . After UCLA recovered a fumble , Kai Forbath kicked a 29 - yard field goal to give the Bruins the early lead . Gerhart rushed 5 yards for a touchdown for Stanford in the first quarter and aided by a UCLA penalty in the second quarter , scored a second touchdown . The Bruins kicked a field goal before halftime , aided by a partially blocked punt . With a 46 - yard flea flicker in the third quarter to put Stanford in the red zone , Gerhart scored his third touchdown from the 5 - yard line . He finished the game with 134 rushing yards . Later in the quarter , Nate Whitaker kicked a 29 - yard field goal to give the Cardinal a 24 – 6 lead . The Bruins began the fourth quarter with a Johnathan Franklin 1 - yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 11 , and a Forbath 35 - yard field goal with about four minutes left in the game cut the lead to 24 – 16 . UCLA took over with 3 minutes left but was unable to complete the comeback . Oregon State . The Beavers scored on every drive in the first half to take a 31 – 7 halftime lead on their way to a 38 – 28 defeat of the Cardinal . Jacquizz Rodgers ran for a career high 189 yards and a school record - tying four touchdowns . His brother James added the fifth touchdown and a Justin Kahut 31 - yard field goal completed the scoring for the Beavers . After falling behind early , Stanford was forced out of its usual Toby Gerhart - led power rushing game , though Gerhart still managed 96 yards and two touchdowns . Andrew Luck added two touchdown passes , one to Chris Owusu and another to Jim Dray . Arizona . In a game that featured more than a thousand offensive yards , the Wildcats rallied back late to defeat the Cardinal . The quarterbacks were evenly matched : Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck threw for 423 yards and three touchdowns , while Arizona ' s Nick Foles also tossed three touchdown passes and had a total of 415 yards . Stanford ' s Toby Gerhart had 123 yards and two touchdowns . Arizona managed a total of just 138 rush yards , but 57 of those came on Nic Grigsby ' s go - ahead touchdown with under three minutes left . Stanford drove to the Arizona 17 with seconds to play , but a fourth - down pass to Chris Owusu was batted away and the Wildcats escaped with a victory . Arizona State . Toby Gerhart rushed for more than 100 yards for the 15th time in his college career as the Cardinal downed the Sun Devils . All four Stanford touchdowns were on rushes , but uncharacteristically for Stanford , only one was by Gerhart . Fullback Owen Marecic , who is almost exclusively used to block for Gerhart , scored on his seventh career carry ; freshman Jamal - Rashad Patterson scored on a 22 - yard reverse ; and backup running back Stepfan Taylor had a 33 - yard touchdown run . Arizona State scored on two Danny Sullivan touchdown passes , the last coming just before Sullivan left the game with a bruised knee . Oregon . The Cardinal surprised the Ducks , 51 – 42 , to become bowl - eligible for the first time in eight years . Toby Gerhart ran for three touchdowns and a school - record 223 yards on 38 carries , breaking the previous record of 220 set by Jon Volpe in 1988 . He also broke his single - season rushing record set last year with 1 , 217 yards . Andrew Luck finished 12 for 20 for 251 yards , throwing an 8 - yard touchdown pass to Jim Dray in the second quarter and a 31 - yarder to Chris Owusu after Oregon cut the Cardinal lead to 10 points early in the third quarter . Oregon closed within six points late in the fourth quarter following a missed Stanford field goal , but Stanford recovered the ensuing onside kick . A field goal with 11 seconds remaining put the game away . USC . Facing its second top - 10 opponent in as many weeks , Stanford won 55 - 21 , handing USC a 34 - point loss — its biggest loss of the Pete Carroll era and its biggest loss since 1966 . Stanford ' s 55 points was the highest number of points any team had scored against a USC Trojans football team in the 121 - year history of Trojan football . The 55 points included three Toby Gerhart touchdown runs and one by Andrew Luck . Richard Sherman returned an interception of a Matt Barkley fourth - quarter pass to spark a 27 - point fourth quarter to put away the Trojans and keep the Cardinal ' s slim Rose Bowl hopes alive . This was Stanford ' s third victory against USC in their last five games against each other at the Coliseum ( Stanford winning 2001 , 2007 , and 2009 , with USC winning in 2003 and 2005 ) . USC has defeated every other opponent in the Coliseum since Stanford ' s September 29 , 2001 victory in the Coliseum . It was the first defeat in a November game for the Trojans in Carroll ' s nine - season tenure . For the first time since Carroll ' s first season , USC lost more than two games in one season . For the second time in three weekends , Carroll suffered the worst loss of his USC tenure , the other being its game against the Oregon Ducks . This was the largest margin of victory for Stanford in a Stanford - USC game since the two teams ' rivalry began in 1918 . Harbaugh became only the third coach in college football with a winning record against Carroll , going 2 - 1 in the three times the two coaches have faced each other . California . Both teams faced each other in the 112th Big Game with seven wins each , the first time this had happened since 1991 . The Cardinal had scored a combined 106 points in two previous games against higher ranked opponents , with consecutive upsets over Oregon and USC , two teams which had blown out Cal 42 - 3 and 30 - 3 , respectively . Cal also played its second game without star running back Jahvid Best , again starting backup Shane Vereen . The Cardinal scored on their first possession when Toby Gerhart broke free on the game ' s third play for a 61 - yard touchdown . After successfully blocking a punt , which gave Stanford field position on the Cal 19 - yard line , Gerhart scored again on a 2 - yard run . The Bears responded with a scoring drive of their own that resulted in a field goal . In the second quarter , a Cal drive was halted when Richard Sherman intercepted Kevin Riley deep in Stanford territory . The Cardinal were unable to capitalize on the turnover however , and the Bears went on a five - minute scoring drive that saw Vereen score his first touchdown of the game on a 1 - yard run with just over a minute left in the quarter to make it 14 - 10 Stanford at the half . Cal took its first lead in the third quarter with a 92 yard scoring drive resulting in a 4 - yard run by Vereen . Stanford was able to move downfield in turn , but missed a 45 - yard field goal . The Bears marched downfield again and scored on a 3 - yard run by Vereen . Stanford responded on the ensuing possession by scoring on a 1 - yard run by Gerhart . The Bears in turn scored in the beginning of the fourth quarter with a 12 - yard pass from Riley to Marvin Jones . Midway through the quarter , the Cardinal put together an 87 - yard touchdown drive which resulted in Gerhart getting his fourth score of the game on a 5 - yard run . After getting the ball back with just under 4 minutes left in the game , Stanford attempted a fourth down conversion which failed . The Bears took possession on the Stanford 23 - yard line , but ended up settling for a field goal , making the score 34 - 28 and giving the Cardinal a chance to win with more than two and a half minutes left if they could score a touchdown . Stanford started out with good field position at its 42 - yard line and was able to drive down to the Cal 13 - yard line . Cal linebacker Mike Mohammed saved the game for the Bears when he intercepted Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck , allowing Riley to take three straight knees and Cal to retain the Stanford Axe . The loss , as well as a double overtime win later in the day by Oregon over Arizona , eliminated Stanford from Rose Bowl contention and the possibility of sharing the Pac - 10 conference title . Luck threw for 157 yards , while Gerhart rushed for 136 yards and all of Stanford ' s four touchdowns , tying a single Big Game record previously set by Cal players Chuck Muncie and Lindsey Chapman . Cal ' s victory marked the 100th coached by Jeff Tedford , matching Pappy Waldorf for the most wins at Cal in the modern era , with 67 . Riley threw for 235 yards and a score , while Vereen had another career game , rushing for 193 yards on 42 carries with three scores . As of 2013 , it is Stanford ' s last loss to an in - state rival within the Pac - 12 ( formerly Pac - 10 ) . Notre Dame . In a nationally televised game , the Cardinal scored a last - minute touchdown to defeat the Fighting Irish 45 – 38 . Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart made a strong statement for Heisman Trophy consideration , rushing for 205 yards and three touchdowns and throwing his first career touchdown pass to Ryan Whalen . The win was Stanford ' s first in the annual series since 2001 . Notre Dame lost its sixth of the season , all six of which have been by a touchdown or less . Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw for 340 yards and five touchdowns , three to Golden Tate and two to Michael Floyd . The game was Charlie Weis ' s final game as head coach of Notre Dame ; he was fired the following Monday . Oklahoma ( Sun Bowl ) . Stanford made its first bowl appearance since 2001 without starting quarterback Andrew Luck , who was sidelined due to a broken finger . Tavita Pritchard , who hadn ' t started a game at quarterback since the 2008 season , played the entire game , and was 8 for 19 with two interceptions as the Sooners outlasted the Cardinal 31 – 27 . Toby Gerhart , who had finished second in the closest Heisman Trophy race ever a few weeks earlier , ran for 135 on 32 carries and scored two touchdowns for Stanford . Meanwhile , Sooners wide receiver Ryan Broyles set a Sun Bowl record with three touchdown receptions and was named Sun Bowl MVP . Broyles had 156 yards receiving and set Oklahoma ' s single - game record with 13 receptions from quarterback Landry Jones , who passed for 418 yards overall .