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(A/P Photo)
Going up against an Oregon Ducks team that was arguably one of the hottest in college football, the Stanford Cardinal did not even bat an eye.
With their 51-42 victory over the Ducks, the Cardinal not only threw their hat into the ring, they also broke the Pac-10 race wide open for practically everyone.
One of the big keys, if not the biggest, to the Cardinal's success this season has been the play of Toby Gerhart, who seems to put up bigger numbers week in and week out.
See where this is going? Gerhart makes big plays and delivers the big performances, and his size (6-foot-1, 237 pounds) is just big in general.
For a more in-depth look at Gerhart's season to date check out the slideshow at the bottom of the page.
Gerhart's 223 yards rushing against Oregon is his second 200 yard game of the season, the other coming against Washington.
If Southern California wants to avoid its third loss on the season, it will be imperative to bring down Stanford's main weapon and star tailback.
In two of Stanford's three losses on the season, Gerhart was unable to crack the century mark.
The Cardinal's other loss, coming at the hands of the Arizona Wildcats, was more a byproduct of UofA quarterback Nick Foles' breakout performance than it was Gerhart's inability to produce, as he finished that game with 123 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns.
At his Tuesday press conference, Trojans' head coach Pete Carroll addressed the Gerhart's importance to the Cardinal offense and team.
“They have a real obvious core of their offense in Toby Gerhart, just a hammer back there running the football, said Carroll. “They've built their style around his physical nature, and it's working very well for them.”
Gerhart's physical style is something the Southern California defense really has not seen this season. While they've gone up against some of the Pac-10's best backs in Jacquizz Rodgers, LaMichael James and Jahvid Best, they have yet to play against a brutal runner such as Gerhart.
When asked to compare Gerhart to someone he has seen or coached, Pete Carroll had an interesting response:
“He would be like playing the Bus (Jerome Bettis) the old days at Pittsburgh where you just knew you had a big war daddy coming back there at you down after down after down. There is a certain style to his running and all that and certain things you want to do to try to defend against that. I don't think there are many guys that had that kind of presence offhand other than going all the way back to him.”
Simply put, Gerhart likes to hit and he's going to come out of the gates running when Saturday afternoon rolls around at the Coliseum. Luckily for the Trojans' the have a defense full of heavy hitters too.
“I mean, this is a real battler,” said Carroll of Gerhart. “He really fights you.”
One thing is for sure, the stage has been set for this Pac-10 battle. In front of 90,000 large packing the Coliseum, does it get much better?
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