UCLA In Jim Harbaugh's debut game as Stanford's new head coach, UCLA's offense amassed 600 yards and overwhelmed the Cardinal defense in the second half, as UCLA won handily. UCLA's
Ben Olson threw 5 touchdown passes and finished 16–29 for 286 yards while fellow Bruin
Kahlil Bell led the running game by gaining 195 yards on 19 carries. This individual performance was the 18th best single game rushing performance in Bruin football history, placing Bell right after
Freeman McNeil, who had 197 yards against Stanford in 1979, and right before
Gaston Green, who had 194 yards against Tennessee in 1985.
San Jose State Oregon Arizona State USC The struggling Stanford Cardinal continued Pac-10 play by playing the
USC Trojans in the
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the Trojans had not lost in six seasons. In a major upset, USC stumbled at home to the 41-point
underdog Cardinal, losing 24–23. Harbaugh made headlines prior to the season by claiming 2007 would be USC Coach
Pete Carroll's last year with the Trojans before departing to the NFL, drawing a terse rebuke from Carroll; Harbaugh later called the 2007 Trojans one of the best teams in the history of college football at Pac-10 Media Day, reiterating the position in the week before their game. However, there were no hard feelings between the coaches. The two kept in cordial phone contact and Carroll made light of Harbaugh's comments several times during the season. Stanford's starting quarterback, redshirt senior
T. C. Ostrander, suffered a seizure on the afternoon of September 30, one day after the game against Arizona State; he was released from
Stanford Hospital after a few hours, but as a precautionary measure he was held out of the game against USC. The starting quarterback position fell to
Tavita Pritchard, a redshirt sophomore with three passes in his college career. Stanford was also without two other key starters: defensive lineman
Ekom Udofia (ankle) and offensive lineman Allen Smith (knee). On October 3, it was announced that USC running back
C. J. Gable, who was averaging a team-best 11 yards a carry, would undergo season-ending abdominal surgery to correct a nagging
sports hernia that had limited his ability since the previous season; because he had only played in the first three games, he would seek a medical
redshirt season. Gable's fellow running back,
Stafon Johnson, was also held out of the game due to a foot bruise suffered the previous week. The loss ended multiple USC streaks, including a five-game win streak against Stanford and a 35-game home winning streak. For
sportsbooks, the loss to a 41-point underdog marked the biggest upset in their history. There were a few positive efforts for the Trojans: Tight end
Fred Davis caught five passes for a career-best 152 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown; and nose tackle
Sedrick Ellis had three sacks. However, there were many more errors and substandard performances: quarterback
John David Booty, who broke a bone in the middle finger of his throwing hand in the first half, had four passes intercepted in the second half. The offensive line had been suffering since losing two starters in one play during the previous week's game at Washington, but the effect was severe against Stanford; the offensive line gave up four sacks, one more than the Trojans had surrendered all season, and USC gained only 95 yards rushing. Key receiver
Patrick Turner dropped several passes, the defense gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter and USC had an extra-point attempt blocked, a point which became a crucial difference. Like their previous game against Washington, USC out-gained Stanford by 224 yards (459 to 235) but made many crucial turnovers and penalties. In the press conference following the game, Carroll summarized his concerns: "It's real clear that we have fallen out of line with our philosophy that has guided this program for years; we're turning the ball over too much." The Trojans fell to No. 10 in the AP Poll; however, USC only fell to No. 7 in both the Coaches Poll and
Harris Poll, both of which are the human components for determining who the BCS chooses for the National Championship Game. As a result, USC remained in outside title contention with upcoming games against consensus-No. 2 California and top-10 Oregon. The upset landed the Trojans in ESPN.com's
Bottom 10. In an interview the following month, Carroll assessed the mistakes that led to the loss as his own: At the end of the regular season,
Sports Illustrated chose Stanford's upset of USC as the second "Biggest Upset of 2007" after
Division I FCS Appalachian State's upset of No. 5 Michigan.
TCU A week after defeating top-ranked USC, Stanford welcomed
TCU to Stanford Stadium for
homecoming. It was also the first meeting between the two schools. The Cardinal found themselves with a double-digit lead late in the second half of this game, as they led the Horned Frogs 31–17 with 3:54 remaining in the 3rd quarter. TCU's
Andy Dalton then hit Jimmy Young for a 70-yard touchdown and
Aaron Brown for a 2-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to tie the game at 31. Stanford kicked a field goal with 7:22 remaining to re-take the lead, 34–31. Brown gave TCU its first lead of the game with a 2-yard touchdown run with 4:13 left. An intentional safety by TCU in the final seconds made the final score 38–36. Dalton ended the game with a career-high 344 passing yards.
Arizona Oregon State Washington Washington State Notre Dame The Fighting Irish concluded their season on a high note, winning its second straight game and its second win on the road. Notre Dame's Robert Hughes ran for 136 yards and the go-ahead 6-yard touchdown with 6:06 remaining in the 4th quarter to help the Irish beat the Cardinal 21–14. Cal committed 10 penalties for 118 yards. ==References==