After Saturday’s upset of USC at Stanford Stadium, history may have found another way to link the football careers of Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning — but first, the Cardinal must win a BCS title.

Manning never won a national championship in college. The Florida Gators wouldn’t allow it, with Manning suffering the first defeat of his final three seasons at Tennessee to the SEC rival. The season after he was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts, a quarterback by the name of Tee Martin led the Vols to a 13-0 record and the national title.

Is Josh Nunes the new Tee Martin?

For a fourth straight year, Stanford beat USC. The thought seemed farfetched before Jim Harbaugh took over at The Farm, let alone two weeks ago after the Cardinal nearly fell out of the AP Top 25 poll because of San Jose State’s near-upset of its own in the season opener.

“We came here with a belief in this program,” Stanford senior linebacker Shayne Skov said. “Originally, Coach Harbaugh told us that we were going to get this thing turned around and make it a powerhouse. It’s that kind of dedication. It’s four years in a row for us. If you asked anyone before we got here if we were going to do this, I don’t think anyone would have believed it. It’s confidence in one another and in this family. And it shows out there.”

The country noticed. Employing a physical style that belongs to the SEC and is unlike anything the Pac-12 has to offer, No. 9 Stanford leapfrogged USC in the polls. Suddenly, the Cardinal (3-0) is a contender for the BCS crown, just like it was the past two seasons with Luck.

Success is more than just about the quarterback, just like Tennessee proved in 1998.

“We were different teams in all those wins,” Stanford coach David Shaw said of the four-year run against the Trojans (2-1), who fell from No. 2 to No. 13 in the AP poll. “We didn’t go into this game feeling like we had something to prove. I told the guys that would be a distraction. … I’ve been saying it for years, even before I became head coach. This game is never about who you play, it’s about how you play.”

Nunes, a redshirt junior, struggled to find his rhythm in the first half, where he was 6 of 17 for 78 yards with two interceptions. Only a couple of juke moves by Stepfan Taylor during a 59-yard touchdown scamper gave the fans a reason to cheer as Stanford headed to the locker room.

“Coach came in at halftime and told us to trust the scheme and be patient with it,” said Taylor, who became the third Stanford running back to reach the 3,000-yard milestone. “And that’s what we did. We trusted the scheme.”

Stanford knew it needed to win the battle at the line of scrimmage. Take away a 30-yard run by USC to run out of the clock in the first half, and the Trojans lost 4 yards on 27 carries — that includes four sacks. Meanwhile, Stanford gained 202 yards on the ground, with Taylor the workhorse (27 carries, 153 yards).

“It’s a philosophy, and you can’t go in and out of it,” said Shaw, who name-dropped Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh and his commitment to patience and the running game. “That’s who we are, that’s how we’re built and that’s the way that we like it. … It’s our mentality and physical nature that gives us a chance to win.”

“I was shocked,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said of his team’s inability to move the ball in the second half. “A lot of stuff had not gone our way, so I thought we’d come out and start rolling. But we didn’t.”

Not only did the Trojans plummet in the rankings, their Heisman trophy frontrunner had his campaign derail after quarterback Matt Barkley finished 20 of 41 for 254 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

“We knew if we came out with a lot of energy tonight and played our hardest every snap, then things would happen,” Stanford nose tackle Ben Gardner said. “And we were able to harass them pretty well.”

Skov reminded his teammates prior to the game that this was going to feel like a heavyweight fight, and Stanford withstood its share of blows in the first half — including a 24-yard completion on fourth-and-19 that set up USC’s second 1-yard TD run.

“Shayne gave a great speech telling, ‘They’re going to hit us in the mouth, and we have to come up and hit them right back,’ ” Taylor said.

“We just had to stay confident in ourselves, and just keep coming back no matter the situation and the circumstances,” Skov said.

Nunes bounced back in the second half, making plays with his legs and his arm. He won’t remind anyone of his predecessor on the field, but the Stanford quarterback could turn into a SAT question — Josh Nunes is to Andrew Luck as Tee Martin is to Peyton Manning.

It could come down to Nov. 17 at No. 3 Oregon (3-0), which discounting the Fiesta Bowl was the only team to beat Luck during his last two seasons in college. Remind anyone of Florida?

“We can’t worry about the noise that is around us,” Shaw said. “We haven’t accomplished anything yet.”

Email Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com; follow him at Twitter.com/dailynewsvytas.