nERD: 33.22

Before Christian McCaffrey arrived in Palo Alto, there was Andrew Luck. Ya know, the one that would go on to be selected first overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL draft.

Before he made the jump, Luck was outstanding in his sophomore season with the Cardinal, posting a completion percentage of 70.7% to go along with 3,338 yards and 35 total touchdowns.

He had a lot of help on the offensive line and at the skill positions, where he had Doug Baldwin, Coby Fleener and Zach Ertz at his disposal. These combinations churned out 9.56 adjusted yards per pass attempt.

However, as great as they were, Stanford couldn't get past Pac-12 foe Oregon, who defeated the Cardinal in the regular season and made an undefeated run to the BCS championship.

Stanford wasn't the only great team not to win the title that year (you'll see). Cam Newton and his Auburn Tigers pulled off the upset.