LOS ANGELES -- When defensive lineman Blake Lueders graduated after last season, Stanford's last on-field connection in the Jim Harbaugh era was gone. Only players who had seen game action under David Shaw remained.
Lueders' departure just so happened to coincide with a five-loss Cardinal campaign, the program's worst showing since 2009.
So if Shaw's naysayers needed ammunition, they suddenly had truckloads of it. Their prophecy was materializing: It appeared that Stanford, the only program to make four consecutive BCS bowl games from 2010-2013, was fading from its elite perch as carryover positives of the Harbaugh era faded.