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		Harbaugh now sets his sights on the Ax By Michael Duca November 19, 2008

	STANFORD--The Stanford Cardinal are absolutely moving in the right direction and head coach Jim Harbaugh put it perfectly after last Saturday's game versus USC when he said that the gap was close. Of course the gap was formerly large enough to drive a solar system through. The gap is closing, Stanford and SC played to a 17 all tie at the half and but for a dropped pass and maybe a favorable call from the officials it could have been something closer to 24-7 Stanford at the half. They've had time of possession, they had yardage and then in the second half reality set in. The men of troy just exerted their athleticism and they're physical superiority plus their incredible numbers. It seemed to me that it took seven minutes for the Trojans to come out of the tunnel after the half. They're band outnumbered the Stanford crowd and even if you look at the band it look like the trombone players they were guys that were too far down on the running back depth charts, they're all huge. On quarterbacking coach Harbaugh has two different kinds of quarterbacks he has Alex Loukas and he has T.J. Pritchard whose a passer and keep in mind that game finished with a 22 point difference and most of those 22 points came and a kick off return for a touchdown and then a two play 90 yard drive where the Trojans ripped off a 44 yard pass play in a 46 yard rushing play for a very short time those few things put the game away. One of them was a response to Stanford's first touchdown that reset the tone of the game very quickly and the other one came in the second half when Stanford might have had some thoughts about coming back into the game. Whose gonna win the Big Game Miguel? I'm reluctant to make Cal a favorite even at home. They're having enough issues with their offense right now and they're playing very solid defensive football and Stanford is having some difficulty stopping teams in the red zone. So if the Bears can manage to take care of the football and get it into the red zone it might be able to put some points on the board. Stanford has a very solid rushing game. They're going to be able to pile up a couple 100 rushing yards, rushing on Cal, which nobody else has done this year. The Big Game at Strawberry Canyon will be extremely competitive and if it's not a toss up it would make Stanford a slight favorite. Follow Stanford coverage with Jeremy Kahn and Michael Duca each week for Sportstalk Radio.