One of Stanford's primary preseason goals involved playing a December game in sparkling new Levi's Stadium.

The contest they had in mind, of course, wasn't the Foster Farms Bowl, but rather the Pac-12 championship game held at the Field of Jeans last Friday. After a disappointing 7-5 season, that lofty dream didn't materialize, but the consolation prize in Santa Clara did.

College football bowl coverage The 2014-15 bowl season is in the books. Take a look back at what happened. Bowl overview »

Postseason Central »

Complete bowl schedule »

The 7-5 Cardinal will face 7-5 Maryland for the first time ever on December 30 at Levi's Stadium. Following a shaky 5-5 start, Stanford surged to consecutive blowout wins at the end of the regular season. The finale against the Terrapins is a chance to carry positive momentum into the offseason while enjoying bowl festivities in San Francisco -- just a short drive away from their Bay Area campus.

There's also a more interesting angle.

This happens to be a final chance for quarterback Kevin Hogan to tack another impressive outing onto the end of his wobbly 2014 campaign. The redshirt junior delivered what might have been the best game of his career in the Cardinal's 31-10 season-closing romp at UCLA. And that performance helped fuel an intriguing storyline entering the offseason.

Hogan still has one year of eligibility remaining, but given the severity of Stanford's offensive struggles throughout their worst season since the pre-Andrew Luck era (the Cardinal finished with the Pac-12's worst scoring offense), many have wondered if No. 8 will be back under center in 2015. Stanford has sophomore Ryan Burns and freshman Keller Chryst, one of the country's top rated quarterback prospects in the recruiting class of 2014, working for a shot at the starting job.

Offseason eyes are turning to coach David Shaw, who will make the final determination in Stanford's quarterback situation moving forward. At this point, the public has very few hints regarding future plans. Shaw may prefer to ride Hogan's experience into next season, or he may ultimately decide to go in a fresh direction.

This much is clear: Despite his earlier struggles, Hogan's 16-for-19, two-touchdown performance at UCLA featured the model efficiency that Shaw has sought at the position. Hogan kept the Bruins' defense reeling by spreading his completions out to nine different receivers and by rushing (6.8 yards per carry) at opportune times.

Coincidentally, leading target Ty Montgomery (who'll be a game week decision for the bowl game) missed that contest with a shoulder injury. There's been some speculation Hogan relied on Montgomery too much earlier in the season, and that his absence might have forced the quarterback to more thoroughly survey the field against UCLA. Shaw disagreed with this notion, attributing Stanford's success to across-the-board improvement that will only continue if Montgomery's explosive ability does return to face Maryland.

"The last two weeks have been a combination of our offensive line coming together and our quarterback playing his best games," he said. "We're staying out of third and long, we're making field goals. Everything has come together, and we're playing at a high level at all positions."

Though Maryland features a lower-tier defense (they're ranked 82nd in the FBS), another high-level Stanford offensive performance to close the 2014 book -- one again centered on quality play from Hogan -- would certainly add intrigue to Shaw's decisions regarding the Cardinal's offense moving forward. The next three weeks, then, may provide some interesting hints regarding the future complexion of the Stanford offense.