Stanford's 2009 recruiting class was ranked 15th in the nation by Scout.com[1] and 20th by Rivals.com,[2] and included these top-rated recruits:[3][4] 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 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.

For the second week in a row, Chris Owusu returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown to start the scoring for Stanford.

After UCLA recovered a fumble, Kai Forbath kicked a 29-yard field goal to give the Bruins the early lead.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[14] 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.

[20] 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.

After successfully blocking a punt, which gave Stanford field position on the Cal 19-yard line, Gerhart scored again on a 2-yard run.

In the second quarter, a Cal drive was halted when Richard Sherman intercepted Kevin Riley deep in Stanford territory.

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.

[21] 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.

Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw for 340 yards and five touchdowns, three to Golden Tate and two to Michael Floyd.

[24][25] Stanford made its first bowl appearance since 2001 without starting quarterback Andrew Luck, who was sidelined due to a broken finger.

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.