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Pac-12 Championship: A 12-Pac For Stanford Vs. UCLA

This post is for all those who want video highlights, news, notes, blog reaction, and more of Stanford clinching a Pac-12 Championship over UCLA.

Happy Stanford fan
CJ Fogler

1. At least that Stanford fan was happy.

2. Here are the video highlights, courtesy of Pac-12.com.

3. Bryan Fischer has a nice anecdote of Stepfan Taylor.

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.

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."

4. Stanford Athletics didn't waste any time compiling their montage of victory.

5. Euler of Rule of Tree seemed to sum it best for Stanford fans.

Pac-12 champions, wow. After two seasons with the best QB in a generation, going 11-1, and not winning it, I thought I wouldn’t see this day coming. And here it is!!

Thank you Taylor. Thank you Ertz. Thank you Hogan. Thank you Nunes. Thank you O-line. Thank you Murphy, Thomas, Tarpley, Skov, Gardner, Stephens, Carter, and the whole defense.

And above all, thank you coach Shaw. You seem to be a great football coach, but what I really appreciate is your demeanor, and how you handle these fine young men. Don’t let the academics down, and you will keep making history in the Farm… Thank you so much!

6. Stanford fan attendance was ... not good.

Now, 5 PM on a Friday is pretty much hell for Bay Area people to try and travel around, so it's easily forgivable that Cardinal fans had trouble getting to the game. But they never ended up really showing up or trickling in. The fans that showed up at kickoff comprised the majority of fans that actually attended the contest.

Cardinal attendance has yet to improve despite a third straight BCS appearance. This has to be hell for the Pac-12, which has 11 much larger fanbases they'd love to have clash in these contests and drive higher TV ratings towards on a regular basis. A successful Stanford for the Pac-12 is like a successful Spurs squad for the NBA; purists might enjoy it, but it probably won't move the neelde.

Unfortunately, Stanford's excellence appears to be going nowhere, which means the conference might have to endure their success and hope that the team starts growing on fans in the South Bay.

They did seem to get loud near the end, which was a bit strange.

By the way, here's the funniest Tweet of the night.

When he said "almost", he was probably talking in exponential terms.

7. UCLA fans react at Bruins Nation:

This game was so close. We only made a few mistakes. Stanford played their usual mostly error free football. We didn't create any turnovers. While Stanford deserves to go to the Rose Bowl, we all wonder and contemplate how close we were to achieving the same. I've never seen a Rose Bowl in my Bruin lifetime, and it would have been great to attend.

Our season isn't over - there's still a bowl to attend, whether it be the Alamo Bowl or the Holiday Bowl. Congratulations to our seniors, to all-time leading rusher Johnathan Franklin, and to all of you for being here this season.

8. Despite the loss, the Bruins have to be pretty proud of their effort, and bright days seem to be ahead.

They are as close as Jim Mora came to finally showing real emotion when discussing a UCLA team's Rose Bowl bid that was suddenly and painfully stopped Friday night on the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado.

"We'll eventually move on, but this one is going to sting for while," the Bruins' coach said, his voice thickening, his arm suddenly shooting up and pointing out to the soggy field. "You don't get this close, and get that close, and lose, and not have it hurt."

9. Nestor of Bruins Nation questions the decision-making on the final drive:

Also, while I believe coaches came in the game with a very solid game plan, Mora and Noel Mazzone made some bizarre and questionable decisions in the closing mins, which didn't put the Bruins in best position to finish the game. Everyone has talked about the bizarre spiking the ball on first down. That is going to be as painful as Wayne Cook's spike against the Rose Bowl and Troy Aikman's spike against Washington State (in 1988) with about 50 seconds left from the 5 yard line.

I also don't think it was smart to put the game on the leg of freshman kicker, who has been improving through the season, but didn't really have the track record of executing on long attempts. That was a decision based on conservative NFL instinct but not on data. Fairbairn had converted only 1 of 4 FG attempts all season between 40 to 49 yards and until last night had never attempted a 50+ yarder. So, I just think it was fair to the kid to put the season on his shoulder (and it wasn't fault as the snap and hold wasn't executed properly). I also, didn't like our play calls in our second to last drive near our goal line and certainly didn't like the use of TOs with more than 4 mins left in the game, which could have come in very handy in our last possession.

10. Tweets of the game, mainly concerning the Stanford offense.

11. Shaw and his team celebrate the win in the locker room.

12. Finally, our main man Ted Miller talks up Kevin Hogan.

Hogan is already notorious for two things: poise and a desire not to talk about himself. It's better to have others talk about him, a signal-caller who can do damage with his arm and legs.

"He's an impressive kid," Mora said. "He's very poised. He's careful with the ball. He makes good decisions."

Shaw said Hogan's "ceiling is very high" and that his poise is "innate."

"You don't train a guy like that," Shaw said. "You find a guy like that."

Hogan completed 16 of 22 passes for 153 yards and rushed for 49 yards on 11 carries. But the biggest number is this: No turnovers for the Cardinal offense. On a day when UCLA was statistically superior, that might have been the difference.

"You're a freshman?" Thomas joked with Hogan on the podium during a postgame news conference, then turning back to reporters. "He sure doesn't play like one."