How did Stanford get the most dominating offensive front in the Pac-10? How did Stanford get a Heisman Trophy-caliber season from a guy who almost didn’t play this season to focus on baseball? How did Stanford get the best quarterback in the conference as a redshirt freshman?

We all knew Stanford was coming. An upper division finish in the Pac-10 didn’t seem out of the question. But when coach Jim Harbaugh said after last season that the team’s goal this year is to play in a BCS game, the assumption was it was just Harbaugh being Harbaugh.

Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. Stanford might not ultimately get to a BCS game, but just the fact that the Cardinal are in the conversation is stunning enough.

If for some reason Stanford’s 51-42 win over Oregon didn’t get your attention, Saturday’s shockingly easy 55-21 rout of USC in Los Angeles did the trick. Stanford manhandled what has been the dominant program in the conference this decade, and in the process put itself in position to win the Pac-10 title.

Stanford will still need some help, and it must first beat Cal in the Big Game this Saturday. No matter what happens in the conference race, the Cardinal could make an argument for an at-large BCS bid by beating Cal and Notre Dame in their final two regular season games.

“They’re probably the hottest team in the country right now,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. “It’s unbelievably impressive what they’ve done. Those games are no fluke.”

Scoreboard

Stanford 55, USC 21
Cal 24, Arizona 16
UCLA 43, Washington State 7
Oregon 44, Arizona State 21
Oregon State 48, Washington 21

Round and round

The clogged, competitive nature of the Pac-10 this season has some wondering if the conference should ditch its true round robin format and allow for more nonconference scheduling.

The Pac-10 is the only BCS conference that plays a true round robin schedule, where each team plays every other team once. It makes for nine conference games each season, leaving only three slots for nonconference contests.

There is some concern among the conference’s coaches that its teams are beating up on each other too much where they could be having more success against teams from another conference.

“I think it’s something that we have to study as a conference and determine what’s best,” Harbaugh said. “The fact that the Pac-10 is the only conference that has a true round robin to determine the champion is college football at its best. I think it’s unique and something the Pac-10 doesn’t get enough credit for.”

The Pac-10 only played eight conference games up until 2006, when it voted to adopt the round robin schedule. Tedford said he was in support of the change back then but now isn’t so sure.

“I felt like we should play everyone because I thought it was only fair that everybody has to play each other to be the outright conference champion,” he said. “But there is so much parity in the conference right now. Each and every week is so competitive. We have to look and see how it’s affecting our conference as far as on the national landscape.”

Will he or won’t he?

It was nice and all that Oregon reinstated suspended running back LeGarrette Blount, but it also made for a nice little sideshow when coach Chip Kelly never put him into the game during Saturday’s win over Arizona State.

There was obviously much hoopla surrounding the return of Blount, who was suspended for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout after the Ducks’ loss to the Broncos in their season-opener. Blount initially was suspended for the season but was reinstated after it was determined he satisfied enough “academic and behavioral ladders” to return.

Blount, considered a possible Heisman Trophy candidate before the season, spent the entire night on the sidelines, despite urging from the crowd. Kelly used four tailbacks but never got to Blount.

“We didn’t get to our fifth running back,” Kelly told reporters afterward.

Oregon has two regular season games left, both of them being rather huge. The Ducks play Arizona and Oregon State, each on their tail for the Pac-10 crown. At this point, it seems Blount is far enough down the depth chart that he will only play in a lopsided game. If Oregon’s final two games are as competitive as they are expected to be, it remains uncertain the next time we will see Blount on the football field.

Extra points

• The 55 points allowed to Stanford on Saturday were the most USC has ever allowed in a game.

• Entering last week’s game at Cal, Arizona had allowed just four sacks all season. The Wildcats allowed three to the Bears.