It was a red-letter year for the Cardinal

Even without winning either a Rose Bowl berth or the Big Game, Stanford had an excellent regular season. The Cardinal might not have fulfilled the goals of their players, but given the program's recent history, it's hard to complain about 8-4. They beat the hottest team in the country at the time, No. 7 Oregon. In their best all-around performance, they pummeled USC, then ranked 11th - scoring 55 points, the most the Trojans have given up in their 122-year football history. And they finished with a thrilling victory over Notre Dame, a team that had beaten them seven straight times. Spurred by the exploits of Toby Gerhart, they finished with two straight sellouts, a major development after tepid ticket sales through most of the four seasons since Stanford Stadium was rebuilt. At long last, the student body was galvanized by football after seven straight losing seasons. Stanford will make its first bowl appearance since 2001. It went 6-1 at home and broke school records for points 434 and rushing touchdowns 36. As the Cardinal took a break from practice this week to prepare for next week's finals, coach Jim Harbaugh hit the recruiting circuit. The players and coaches will watch two games today - Arizona at USC and Cal at Washington - that will decide which bowl game awaits the Cardinal. Bowl berths will be announced Sunday. Stanford is still in the running for the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 31; the Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park on Dec. 26 and the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22. The Cardinal will finish in either a three-way or four-way tie for second, but apparently won't be considered for the Holiday Bowl, which gets the PAC-10's No. 2 team. Stanford's most likely destination is the Emerald Bowl, which gets to pick after the Holiday and Sun bowls. Emerald Bowl executive director Gary Cavalli said, "It's fair to say, based on expectations of what we think those two bowls will do, that there are more scenarios that involve Stanford in the Emerald than anybody else. But there are possibilities for both Cal and USC as well. Stanford is the leader in the clubhouse." Besides the bowl picture, Stanford is waiting to see if Gerhart wins the Heisman Trophy. The finalists will be announced at about 3 p.m. Monday. The Heisman winner will be announced next Saturday at the Nokia Theater in New York as part of an hourlong ESPN show beginning at 5 p.m. The announcement will come at about 5:50. Two nights earlier, the winner of the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top college running back will be announced. Gerhart, Alabama's Mark Ingram and Clemson's C.J. Spiller are the finalists. The announcement will come during ESPN's College Football Awards Show. It could be a whirlwind trip for Gerhart. He'll fly to Orlando for the Walker Award presentation, then probably fly to New York for the Heisman ceremony. He was named to the PAC-10 All-Academic first team Wednesday. Other Stanford players enjoyed extraordinary regular seasons. Redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Luck ranks second in the PAC-10 and 24th nationally in passing efficiency 143.5 and was the team's second-leading rusher. Ryan Whalen led the team in catches 54 and receiving yards 861, among the PAC-10 leaders in both categories. The offensive line, dubbed the Tunnel Workers Union, gave up a conference-low seven sacks. Chris Owusu ranks first in the PAC-10 and fifth nationally in kickoff return average 32.5; with three returns for TDs, he has as many as the rest of the PAC-10 combined. Meanwhile, the Cardinal led the conference in kickoff coverage. Safeties Delano Howell 76 and Bo McNally 72 were the team's top tacklers. Defensive end Tom Keiser had the most sacks 9 and the most tackles for loss 14 1/2.