One of the kindest, soft-spoken leaders of the Stanford team that had topped UCLA, 27-24, in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game, Taylor was trying to soak in the experience of winning the league title and securing the program’s first Rose Bowl berth since he was in diapers.

[Highlights: Stanford takes Pac-12 title, earns Rose Bowl berth]

But it wasn’t until he was steps away from ducking into the tunnel that the magnitude of the moment for the long-suffering Stanford fan base hit him.

“I want my son to grow up just like you!” a woman shouted, little one standing next to her, while placing her hands on Taylor’s shoulder pads.

“Thank you,” the tailback responded, taking a pause from moving forward while flashing his biggest grin. “Thank you.”

The Cardinal weren’t supposed to be here. They were not supposed to be hoisting the championship trophy or biting down on rose stems.

Six years ago Stanford went 1-11. This season they’re Pac-12 champions and headed to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1999.

“I’m very proud of my guys. These guys played extremely hard. We talked about how this thing wasn’t going to be easy,” coach David Shaw said. “We knew it was going to come down to the end. Were we going to have the resolve? Were we going to have the toughness? Were we going to be smart enough at the end to make just enough plays to win?

“Our guys did that.”

A program once considered among the worst in the country has flourished with an emphasis on a strong running game, turnover-free quarterback play and suffocating defense. Many expected to the departures of former coach Jim Harbaugh and star quarterback Andrew Luck to the NFL to cause the Cardinal to take a step back. Instead, they’ve taken a step forward.

“We play with a chip on our shoulder,” added Shaw, a former player on The Farm. “We’re not a one-man organization here. We’re a team. We’ll have great players leave this year and we expect to be good again next year. We recruit tough, smart kids that play well. They make plays.”

Beating UCLA for the second time in six days set off a celebration among the small but passionate fan base at Stanford Stadium on Friday. But the Cardinal’s season was officially special when they conquered recent conference heavyweight Oregon two weekends ago in Eugene. In redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Hogan’s first road start, the Cardinal toppled the then No. 1 team in the country in overtime.

Whenever this 2012 team has faced adversity during their seven-game winning streak, they simply seem to come back with the right play at the right time.

“We were a loss to Oregon away – twice – from getting in this game and getting a chance to go to the Rose Bowl,” said Shaw. “That game (two weeks ago) was a signature game for us because that was a team that had been keeping us from our goal.”

UCLA nearly did that on its second shot with Stanford. The Bruins looked as though they were going to wrestle away control of the game early, threatening to go up two scores before Ed Reynolds undercut a Brett Hundley pass and picked it off before zigzagging all the way to the one-yard line. Taylor punched it in a play later to swing momentum right back to the home sideline.

The Bruins threatened again when they took the lead late in the fourth quarter on a touchdown from Johnathan Franklin, who exploded against the top-ranked rushing defense in the country to the tune of 194 yards and two scores. Hogan stepped up when needed once again for the team, however, dropping in a beautiful 26-yard touchdown pass over a defender to Drew Terrell. Hogan’s efforts earned him the honor of championship game MVP.

[Related video: Kevin Hogan postgame interview]

In many ways, Friday night’s championship game was a tug-of-war, and the final heave helped Stanford win the battle.

“That’s an outstanding football team. I thought that was a tremendous game tonight against two quality opponents,” UCLA coach Jim Mora said. “I thought kids on both sides just fought their tails off. We’re very disappointed that we came up short. I still think we have a lot to be proud of this year.”

Indeed, not many picked the Bruins to be the team from Los Angeles that represented the South. Yet they battled through a tough Pac-12 schedule to finish 9-4 in Mora’s first season as a college coach. With pieces like Hundley and a number players on both sides of the ball coming back, it’s easy to see why the future is bright in Westwood once they move on from Friday’s loss.

“We need to mourn a little bit. We need to get over this one. We poured it out there,” Mora continued. “We’ll eventually move on but this one’s going to sting for a while. You don’t get this close and lose and not have it hurt.”

For Stanford, the victory could not be sweeter. Years in the making, the team is built for sustaining success, and that starts with the revelation the staff found in former third-stringer Hogan. In keeping his record as a starter a perfect 4-0, the signal caller merely managed to accomplish something guys by the name of Luck and John Elway couldn’t.

“You know, especially for me, just being able to play, it’s been fun,” Hogan said. “The guys around me make it a lot easier than it looks. I’m very fortunate to have such great teammates around me.”

“You’re a freshman?” said linebacker Chase Thomas, sly smile on his face. “I don’t know, he sure doesn’t play like one. The type of leadership he has in the huddle, the way he commands the huddle, it’s tremendous for a redshirt freshman like him.”

There were, no doubt, a few young, aspiring quarterbacks looking on at his performance Friday night and thinking that maybe down the road they’ll be able to fill his shoes at Stanford. The same is certainly true of his friend in the backfield, Taylor.

Who would have thought six years ago that kids would aspire to be Stanford football players? Following their Pac-12 championship, the answer clearly lies in the Cardinal locker room as they sit atop the conference of champions.

GAME QUOTES

• Stanford
• UCLA

GAME NOTES

• 2012 Pac-12 Championship Game Most Valuable Player: QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford (So., 6-4, 224, McClean, Va.) 16-22, 155 yards, 1 TD passing / 11-47 yards, 1 TD rushing
• Stanford is the second Pac-12 Conference football champion (Oregon, 2011). The Cardinal has now claimed three of a possible six Conference titles during the 2012-13 academic year (women’s soccer, volleyball).
• With the win, Stanford earned the league’s automatic-qualifying berth in the Rose Bowl Game. The Cardinal has played in 12 Rose Bowl Games, making its last appearance after the 1999 season. Stanford, which fell to Wisconsin, 17-9, in its last trip, is 5-6-1 all-time in the RBG.
• Performing under pressure: UCLA and Stanford were perfect on red zone trips, converting seven-of-seven attempts from in the red area (four touchdowns, three field goals).
• Early Offense: The first three possessions of the game ended in touchdowns. UCLA scored on its first two series, and Stanford scored on its opening possession.
• Johnathan Franklin (UCLA) rushed for 194 yards in the contest, topping LaMichael James‘ 115-yard rushing effort in the 2011 Pac-12 Championship game. Franklin’s 51-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was the longest play from scrimmage in the two-year history of the Pac-12 Championship Game.
• Ed Reynolds (Stanford) notched his Conference-high-tying sixth interception (tied for fifth in the FBS) in the second-quarter. He returned the pick 80 yards, bumping his NCAA-leading interception return yard total to 301. Reynolds is one yard short of the NCAA record for interception return yards in a season (trails Charles Phillips of USC, who had 302 yards in 1974).
• UCLA-Stanford series update: UCLA now leads the series 45-36-3.

STANFORD NOTES

• With a 10-yard rush in the closing moments of the second quarter, senior RB Stepfan Taylor became Stanford’s all-time career rusher by bringing his four-year total to 4,175 yards. Taylor broke Darrin Nelson’s record which stood since 1981.
• Stanford has scored four times on its opening drive this season, with two of those coming in a pair of contests against UCLA.
• Stanford’s opening drive of the first quarter spanned 11 plays, its 15th scoring drive of 10 or more plays on the season.
• Entering the contest, Stanford had allowed only two rushing plays for over 40 yards (77 at Oregon, 61 at Washington). UCLA collected two rushes over 40 yards in the first quarter (51 yards and 48 yards).
• Stanford allowed only 20 points (two touchdowns, two FG) in the first quarter through the first 12 games on the season. One of those two touchdowns was recorded last week by UCLA, as the Bruins posted 14 points tonight against the Cardinal.
• Reynolds’ interception marked the 23rd straight game Stanford’s defense has record a takeaway, tied for the third longest streak in FBS.

UCLA NOTES

• Senior running back Johnathan Franklin moved into first on the school career all-purpose yardage list during UCLA’s first drive of the game tonight – he moved past Maurice Jones-Drew’s (2003-05) total of 4,688 yards. Franklin entered the game with 4,671 all-purpose yards.
• Franklin moved past Karim Abdul-Jabbar’s mark of 1,571 yards (1995) on the school single-season rushing list during UCLA’s second drive of the game. He entered the game with a total of 1,506 yards.
  In the first half of tonight’s game, redshirt freshman quarterback Brett Hundley moved past Cade McNown’s school single-season (1998) total offense mark of 3,652. Hundley entered the game with 3,516 yards of total offense on the season.
• On the second drive of the game, UCLA established a new school record for total offense in a single-season. The old mark of 5,847 was set in 1998. It entered the game with a total of 5,708 yards.
  UCLA also set a new school record for first downs in a season tonight. It entered the game tied with the old school mark of 292 set in 1988.
• Franklin recorded his ninth 100-yard rushing game of the season tonight which is a new school single-season mark. The old record was shared by Karim Abdul-Jabbar, 1995; Gaston Green, 1986; Freeman McNeil, 1980 and 1979; Wendell Tyler 1975. It is Franklin’s 19th-career 100-yard rushing game and moved him into second place on the all-time UCLA school list for most 100-yard rushing games in a career, one behind Gaston Green’s total of 20 (1984-87).
• Franklin has also moved past Terrence Austin’s single-season all-purpose mark of 1,878 set in 2008. He entered tonight’s game with 1,808 all-purpose yards.
• Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 31-yard field goal in the third quarter was his ninth made field goal in a row from a distance of 35-yards or less.

Running back Stepfan Taylor moved into first place on the school’s career rushing list in the middle of yet another solid performance by the senior. Quarterback Kevin Hogan came up clutch once again as he kept his record perfect as a starter, tossing a beautiful touchdown throw to receiver Drew Terrell in the fourth quarter to swing momentum back in favor of Stanford.

A bad snap on UCLA’s 52-yard field goal attempt with :34 left on the clock sealed Stanford’s fate.

The Cardinal defense was not as sharp as they were six days ago when the two teams met at the Rose Bowl to conclude the regular season. UCLA tailback Johnathan Franklin averaged over 10 yards per carry and was part of a Bruins rushing attack that ran for more yards than any team since Oregon did in 2010.

The 2012 Pac-12 title is the program’s first since the 1999 season and its 13th overall. Stanford won its fourth straight over a ranked foe for the first time in school history and has won 13 of its last 14 games played in the month of November.

Pac-12 Coach of the Year David Shaw won the Pac-12 championship in only his second season as head coach of the Cardinal.

[Related: Follow the Pac-12 Football Championship Game live from Stanford Stadium]

The two teams played just six days earlier down at the Rose Bowl - a Cardinal victory – and the rematch will be the first time ever in college football that two schools have played in a regular season finale and in a conference championship game rematch the next week. Friday also marks the first time the two programs have ever played each other twice in one season.

Not only is a berth to the Rose Bowl on the line for two teams looking to end long droughts from the New Year's Day tradition, but the conference champion will be decided once the clock runs out. The Cardinal have been one of the hottest teams in the country leading up to the game, winning six straight with two losses by just 11 points. The Bruins return to the Championship Game with much more momentum than last year's contest and are looking for their first conference title since the 1998 season.

"It's been a long journey to get here, but it's not over yet," UCLA coach Jim Mora said. "We're excited to compete against a very good Stanford team again (Friday) night in what should be a very exciting game."

[Related video: FCG Preview: How did we get here?]

Because it was a short week, the Bruins shortened their typical 24-hour rule to midnight as they emotionally got over last Saturday's 35-17 loss to the Cardinal. Both coaches have been bombarded with questions about handling the scheduling quirk of playing back-to-back, but have made it clear that the championship game is a different contest with much higher stakes.

In reviewing film, neither team played particularly well on Saturday, according to their coaches. Each program expects an incredible effort when its players leave the tunnel.

"We've got to execute and try and play better this week than we did last week," Stanford coach David Shaw said. "We prepared like this was a new opponent. We didn't have to scrap our game plan, but at the same time there are things that we didn't do well that we want to do better. There are things we did well that we want to do better also."

One factor both UCLA and Stanford are well aware of is the possibility of inclement weather for the championship game. Widespread thunderstorms moved into the Bay Area late Thursday night and rain or light showers are expected through kick off.

[Related: Weather won't be a factor in championship game, coaches say]

"The field, to my knowledge, has been really good," Shaw said. "It will be covered all day and covered all morning. Our athletic director and our whole team have done a great job making sure the field is in the best possible condition."

"I coached up here in San Francisco so I've played a lot of games in this type of weather," Mora added. "I think it favors the team that executes the best. I don't think it has a whole lot of bearing on what you do schematically or structurally."

With a season of tough, rugged games building up to the Football Championship Game and a Rose Bowl berth on the line, Stanford and UCLA figure to forget about the rain and concentrate on what it takes to win.

Stanford's offense versus UCLA's defense:

Last time out, Stepfan Taylor was the feature back for the Cardinal offense and rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns in less than three quarters of work. The offensive line, featuring All-American and First Team All-Pac-12 guard David Yankey, cleared the way for Taylor and kept quarterback Kevin Hogan upright by allowing only two sacks.

The battle in the trenches will not only be where the game will have the most action, but the area NFL scouts will have their focus on. In addition to the Stanford group, including pass-catching threats and good blocking tight ends Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo, UCLA boasts a number of talented players along its defensive line. Senior defensive end Datone Jones and junior end Owamagbe Odighizuwa are a pair of tough bookends along with Cassius Marsh and should look to correct a number of mistakes they had in the first matchup. The linebacker corps behind the line are hoping to wrap up better as well, including the Pac-12's leading tackler, Eric Kendricks, and one of the season's biggest surprises in Anthony Barr.

The Bruins will no doubt have to get more penetration against a stout line if they're to slow down a balanced attack that was efficient last week in Pasadena. They've been a solid but not spectacular unit all season long, and it's not hard to see them raising their game as the intensity gets turned up a notch. For Stanford, it's sticking to the game plan: running the ball, making key pass plays to convert on third down and avoiding turnovers.

[Related video: FCG Preview: Stanford's game plan]

UCLA's offense versus Stanford's defense:

The Cardinal sacked quarterback Brett Hundley seven times last week, which should come as no surprise given Stanford has one of the top front sevens in the country. The unit ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in rush defense, sacks and tackles for loss and harassed UCLA all game long last Saturday, a cause for concern in Westwood by many fans hoping to smell roses after the rematch.

"They've been a pretty resilient group all year," Mora said of his offensive line. "I think when you give up seven sacks everybody wants to point right to the offensive line, but sacks are a function of all 11. I said that this week. Certainly your five offensive linemen have to do their job and protect, but your receivers have to get open and your quarterback has to be decisive in his decision making. We didn't lay it all on the offensive line."

Hundley ran just once last week after taking off just over eight times a game on the season, and he figures to get out of the pocket more often when game time comes around. A productive running game with he and tailback Johnathan Franklin moving the ball between the tackles should open up a passing attack that led to one of the better offensive attacks in the country this season.

"It's going to be tough," Shaw said. "They had a clip where they won five straight and were averaging about 42 points per game. That team didn't go away or disappear last week. We played well but they missed some things. They had some chances that, thankfully, went our way.

"We have to make sure nobody is doing too much and get themselves out of position. Hopefully we can rally to the ball."

Shaw called UCLA tight end and Mackey Award semifinalist Joseph Fauria an "unstoppable force," and it's easy to see why after the senior made an incredible catch for a score the last time out. Penalties were a big reason why the Bruins kept false starting on offense, but it's safe to say if they had cut those down, the first game is a much different story.

"Last week's score is inconsequential," said Shaw. "Now it's our best versus their best. They're going to give us our best game and hopefully we'll give them our best game."

[Related video: FCG Preview: UCLA's game plan]

The Game:

As much focus as the rematch angle gets, the bottom line is both Stanford and UCLA are battling for the Pac-12 title. After two great seasons so far and a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line, Friday night's game in the elements should come down to execution.

"What I think is important for our football team is we don't focus on what the results of this game bring," Mora said. "What's important to focus on is this game. I was fortunate to play in a couple of Rose Bowls and they were great experiences. But it's the game to put you in the Rose Bowl that always sticks with you."

Raising the Pac-12 Championship Game trophy and remembering the falling confetti will certainly make for some memories for both the Cardinal and the Bruins. The only thing left to do is kick off.

When it became clear that a rematch was imminent six days later, weather was the last thing on anyone’s mind.

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon where Stanford Stadium’s natural-grass field was covered with a tarp and the teams’ respective coaches were fielding questions from media members about which team holds the advantage in the rain.

Friday’s forecast calls for 61-degree temperatures and a 50 percent chance of showers at kickoff.

Stanford coach David Shaw agreed that the rain would turn last week's 52-point scoring affair into more of a field-position struggle and suggested it wouldn’t change his team’s plans.

“The rain doesn’t affect our style very much at all,” Shaw said at Thursday’s press conference featuring both coaches (and the trophy). “We’re going to run the ball. We have good coverage teams, kickers and defense. You have to score touchdowns in the red zone and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”

[Related video: FCG Preview: Stanford's game plan]

UCLA’s Jim Mora brushed off any advantage that influences outside of his control may have on the game.

“I coached up here so I’ve played a lot of games like this,” said Mora, who served as an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers from 1997 to 2003. “It favors the team that executes the best. I don’t think it has a whole lot of bearing on anything you do schematically or structurally.

[Related video: FCG Preview: UCLA's game plan]

“Sometimes people like to think it favors the team who grinds the ball. I’ve also played in games where it favors the team with athletes that can get out in space in one-on-one situations. It doesn’t matter who you play, when you play or where you play. If you execute, you have the best chance to be a consistent football team.”

In the dog days of training camp, student-athletes use many things as motivation. Some days it is the position battle you’re in. Other days it is the anticipation of the opening game. At night while laying exhausted in the dorms you allow your mind to drift to big games, championship games.

This Friday night, that vision arrives as the UCLA Bruins travel to Stanford to face the ninth-ranked Cardinal in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game with a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line.

What is unique about this match-up is that these two teams faced off last weekend with Stanford winning 35-17 in Pasadena. While watching film of last weekend's battle it was evident what UCLA needs to do to win the rematch.

Quite simply, they need to out-physical Stanford in the trenches, particularly on the defensive front.

Stanford does not hide what they want to do in terms of running power football, but they do it with so many different wrinkles. They run the power concept (blocking down with their frontside guard and tackle, pulling with the backside guard and leading with their fullback) with multiple personnel in various formations while utilizing unique shifts and motions.

This past Saturday, those wrinkles got UCLA's defensive front seven to alter their alignments ever so slightly, as a foot to the right or the left made the difference in last weekend's game. Sometimes that small alignment is the difference between a four- or 49-yard run.

Watch UCLA's middle linebacker (aligned to the left of the center) on the below play. He follows the fullback and overpursues the run, allowing Stepfan Taylor to cut back and run to daylight.

Follow former USC assistant coach and New York Times best-selling author @YogiRoth for insight on @pac12 football.

Perhaps no conference in the country is a better example of this than out west in the Pac-12. USC was the overwhelming favorite (102 of 123 votes) to win the conference according to the preseason media poll, which correctly predicted the winner of the league 11 of the past 12 years. Oregon, a top five team nationally, garnered just 18 votes in the poll but was picked to win the North Division by a wide margin.

Yet heading into the Pac-12 Football Championship Game this week, we find two teams that managed just seven votes to win their division and none to win the league: UCLA and Stanford.

[Related video: Pac-12 Football Championship Game X's and O's]

The Trojans were the trendy pick to end the SEC’s dominant run in the BCS championship game and take home a national title. They returned most of their starters, save for left tackle Matt Kalil, and were led by a good-natured and accurate passer in Matt Barkley. The nation’s best receiving corps were complimented on the defensive side by one of the better back sevens in the region.

I went out to practice a few times, studied the depth chart and saw a number of NFL draft picks with plenty to play for this season. Their head coach had seemingly mellowed; the focus was on football. The schedule set up well. All the ingredients were in place.

However, as the season played out, those expectations gnawed at the Trojans’ swagger. USC wasn’t close to being the USC most thought they would be in 2012. The team wound up becoming the first team since Mississippi in 1964 to start the season No. 1 and finish it unranked.

On the flip side, Stanford and UCLA played without many expectations and even fewer people believing in them. The Bruins had a new head coach with practically zero college experience and the Cardinal were replacing their most illustrious signal-caller in a generation. The absence of pressure allowed the teams to play much looser, take more chances and bounce back quicker from adversity. They had banner years.

[Related: Pac-12 football awards and all-conference team announced]

Looking at the first edition of UCLA-Stanford last weekend, both teams’ focus was apparent. The Cardinal could still have reached the Pac-12 Championship Game with an Oregon loss, but didn’t bother checking the score. When asked about it, they simply shrugged, knowing it had nothing to do with how they played.

In the other locker room, some predicted that the Bruins would ease up on their opponent and take the loss in order to avoid a trip up to Eugene. Though it appeared the Bruins backed off the accelerator on offense late in the game, the team clearly still was trying to keep things close and execute.

“We are competitors and those guys in there don’t spend all that time preparing for a game, with the sacrifices they make, to not do their best every opportunity they get,” UCLA coach Jim Mora said. “They tried their best to win, it didn’t matter. We wanted to win this game today but we came up short.”

Now both teams will play each other again with a Rose Bowl berth on the line. Expectations are, by virtue of its victory in the first contest of the two-game series, that Stanford will win and head back to Pasadena to play the Big Ten champion. Coach David Shaw insinuated that his team full of smart players will understand they’re in for a much tougher fight come Friday. Like they have all season, the Cardinal will be playing not for a New Year’s Day bowl, but simply to win in the championship game.

[Related: Buy tickets to the Pac-12 Football Championship Game]

UCLA has the same goal, and won’t worry about repercussions from anything other than its own play.

So in a season where expectations impacted how teams played, perhaps it’s fitting that two squads that simply don’t care about them will meet one more time for the Pac-12 title.

Stat pack

- A win over Nicholls State on Saturday would give Oregon State nine wins for the first time since 2008.

- The Apple Cup was the first time in 12 games Washington lost a game decided by fewer than 10 points.

- UCLA’s Johnathan Franklin is just 66 yards away from breaking the school’s single-season rushing record and is 18 away from breaking the all-purpose record. Teammate Brett Hundley is second on the single-season total offense list with just 137 yards to go to take over the top spot.

- Stanford won its 10th game last week, the first time in school history the Cardinal had reached that mark in three straight seasons. Amazingly, Stanford has trailed at halftime only once this year. The team set a school record for sacks in a season at 53 and counting, which is also the most in the FBS.

- Running back Stepfan Taylor is just 32 yards shy of the school rushing record. The Cardinal are 18-3 when he rushes for 100 yards or more.

- This week marks the 84th meeting between UCLA and Stanford, a series that dates back to 1925. The last Bruins win came in 2008, and the team has won as many as four road games in a season for the first time since 2002.

- UCLA has improved in 15 major statistical categories from last year to this year.

- Good note from Pac-12 Digital staffer Matthew Bowlsby: Stanford, Oregon and Oregon State were 12-0 vs. the South this season. UCLA was 1-3 vs. the North and didn’t play Oregon or Washington.

Tweet of the Week

Based on their last several starters–Max, Matt, Mitch, Mark and Matt–the next 3 USC QBs will be Mac, Mick, Mork.

— Steve Rushin (@SteveRushin) November 25, 2012

Fischer’s Top 10

1. Notre Dame

2. Alabama

3. Oregon

4. Florida

5. Ohio State

6. Kansas State

7. Stanford

8. Georgia

9. Texas A&M

10. LSU

They said it

This entire exchange between Jim Mora and LA Times columnist TJ Simers after Saturday’s game is… heated, to say the least.

[Related: Pac-12 Football Championship Game time, ticket and broadcast info]

Despite losing to the Ducks, Oregon State can take solace in the fact that they didn’t lose any ground in the BCS standings remaining at No. 15. It’s not often do you see that happen, but it’s also not often that you see the next six teams behind you also lose.

The Bruins moved up a spot to No. 16 despite losing to Stanford 35-17 at home.

Two ranked teams a week ago — Washington and Arizona — dropped out thanks to losses in their rivalry games.

As to where the ranked Pac-12 teams go from here, the BCS championship game is out of the question for the Ducks, but they are still in prime position for another BCS bowl, most likely of the Fiesta variety.

The Cardinal meanwhile can accomplish something in the first year without Andrew Luck that they never did with him: win the Pac-12 Championship and appear in the Rose Bowl. Stanford’s decisive win on Saturday clinched the Pac-12 North and set up a rematch with UCLA in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game on The Farm this Friday. It will be UCLA’s second-consecutive appearance in the Pac-12 title game.

With a win against  Nicholls State next weekend, the Beavers will be in position for a double-digit season win total with a bowl-game victory.

Here are the BCS standings in their entirety:

1. Notre Dame
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Oregon
6. Kansas State
7. LSU
8. Stanford
9. Texas A&M
10. South Carolina
11. Oklahoma
12. Nebraska
13. Florida State
14. Clemson
15. Oregon State
16. UCLA
17. Kent State
18. Texas
19. Michigan
20. Boise State
21. Northern Illinois
22. Northwestern
23. Oklahoma State
24. Utah State
25. San Jose State

Win.

The program many thought would slip to the middle of the pack with the departure of quarterback Andrew Luck delivered an emphatic 35-17 statement at the Rose Bowl against UCLA to capture the North Division title and setup a rematch six days later. The Cardinal will host the 2012 Pac-12 Championship Game Friday night at 5 p.m. PT. The winner will play in the Rose Bowl on January 1.

[Related: Contact the Stanford ticket office for Pac-12 Football Championship Game tickets]

“This is the way we were going to play this year — physical defense that is tough to run on; hopefully an opportunistic secondary; big, physical offensive line; great tight ends; a great running back and grooming another quarterback,” coach David Shaw said.

Though it was possible Stanford could have backed into the championship game, that idea flew out the window with a win by Oregon over Oregon State earlier in the day. To a man however, not one player or coach said they were particularly concerned with what was happening outside of Pasadena and were wholly focused on the task at hand.

In capturing their fourth straight win in the series, Stanford’s defense shutdown another high-powered offensive attack that ranked near the top of the conference and recorded seven sacks on the night. While UCLA had already secured a berth in the championship game a week ago with their South Division title, Brett Hundley and company certainly made it a game — for a half. Turnovers, including a kick-return fumble that was returned for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter, pushed the game out of reach late.

“We are competitors and those guys in there don’t spend all that time preparing for a game, with the sacrifices they make, to not do their best every opportunity they get,” Bruins coach Jim Mora said. “They tried their best to win, it didn’t matter. We wanted to win this game today but we came up short.”

Now both teams have the task of preparing to play each other once again on a short week. The unique scenario will force a quick reexamination of Saturday’s game tape.

“It’s really hard to beat a team twice, particularly in back-to-back weeks. You have to fight complacency and they’ll come back with a chip on their shoulders to be back stronger, faster and better,” Shaw said. “Once you play a game after a game, you always think about things you could have done or not.

“These guys are going to come up to Stanford, California and they’re going to give us their best shot. We’re going to be ready for them. That’s my job over the next six days.

[Related video: Stanford coach David Shaw's postgame interview]

It was another balanced, clock-controlling offensive attack for Stanford, which averaged 4.5 yards per rush and saw star tailback Stepfan Taylor rack up 142 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. The Cardinal’s late-season resurgence is explained by the play of quarterback Kevin Hogan, who was 15-for-21 against UCLA and played generally mistake-free all night.

“He’s opening up the offense,” Taylor said of his quarterback. “He’s making us more balanced. They had to respect him, both his mobility and his arm. That’s helping because they can’t just stack everybody in the box.”

No matter how hard they pushed the Bruins kept coming up short, whether it was a missed tackle on defense or a missed assignment along on the offensive line. UCLA penalties — 12 of them for 135 yards — gave the Cardinal new life on offense on a number of drives. The Bruins saw several big plays called back just when it seemed like Hundley and company were getting going.

“Too many penalties. Some were aggressive some were a lack of focus, some were not being technically sound,” Mora said. “Yes it’s disappointing but we have got to get over it quickly because we have a game on Friday night.”

A win in Friday’s Pac-12 Championship game sends either program back to the Rose Bowl. Even optimistic fans probably thought that would be a stretch in the preseason but here they are, the Bruins and the Cardinal battling one more time for conference crown.

“It’s special; it’s the goal,” Taylor said. “We want to get there but you have to realize what got you there in the process. You have to focus on the now and taking it one step at a time.”

One Stanford player wanted the team to savor the moment and understand what it meant to get to this point as the team celebrated with their fans Saturday night. Right guard Kevin Danser looked around the Rose Bowl and had one but one message that he delivered loudly and proudly.

“We’re coming back here boys,” he said. “We’re coming back here on January 1st.”

All that’s left to do is win. Again.