As with San Jose State (coaching search) and Cal (bowl situation, next steps), the Stanford report card will be light on game review and heavy on what’s coming.

Even in a normal week, I’m not sure how much depth would be required for the Rice grade. The Owls are bad, Stanford won handily, let’s move on …

One larger issue to address: The funky regular season.

Stanford was dealt a bad hand by the schedule, with the rugged front end and light back end. It’s tough to blame the conference for the situation, because

1) It’s partly a result of Stanford’s desire to play Notre Dame, and

2) Nobody knew Oregon would collapse.

But the drama ended Oct. 22, when Stanford lost its third game (to Colorado). From that point on, it was a long string of meaningless dates (as titles were concerned) against second-rate opponents.

The Cardinal basically faded from the radar, both the regional and national radar. It has played well down the stretch, or so it appears — again, the level of competition makes it difficult to get a precise read.

As far as the postseason is concerned …

The Sun Bowl stands as the most likely destination based on conference record, bowl preferences and team circumstances.

That also assumes the Pac-12 sends two teams into the New Year’s Six — either Washington to the playoff and Colorado/USC to the Rose, or Colorado to the Rose and Washington to the Cotton.

(Could it send three to the NY6? It’s not impossible, but I have yet to see a plausible scenario.)

With two teams jumping into the NY6, the other bowl-eligible teams would move up one level.

The Cardinal, which I’ve pegged for sixth in the pecking order, would climb from the No. 6 bowl (Las Vegas) into the No. 5 bowl (Sun).

Why sixth in the pecking order?

Because regardless of the bowl, it will be a letdown for a fan base that went to the Rose Bowl last year … and bowl officials hate dealing with teams that have experienced letdown seasons, so to speak.

Look for USC or Colorado to end up in the Alamo, leaving the Holiday, Foster Farms and Sun to select from the group of Stanford, Utah and Washington State.

All indications point to Holiday picking WSU over Stanford — Utah can’t go ahead of WSU because of conference record — and the Foster Farms grabbing the Utes.

Stanford was just there, Stanford didn’t exactly pack the stadium, and even though the bowl has new leadership (the 49ers), the sense here is that Utah heads to Levi’s.

And if it’s El Paso for the Cardinal, the opponent would be from the ACC — perhaps Wake Forest or Georgia Tech.