Stanford, Shaw have right attitude ROSE BOWL NOTES

Los Angeles --

Stanford's biggest "litmus test" of the season came after the overtime loss to Notre Dame, head coach David Shaw said.

While Cardinal fans fumed over the officials' refusal to give Stepfan Taylor a touchdown on the last play of the game, Shaw had nothing to do with the uproar.

In life as well as in football, he said, "we're all judged on how we respond to what happens, not on what happens to us."

After returning from South Bend, Ind., the team had two choices, he said. "Hang our heads and act like the TV pundits and say, 'It should have been a touchdown.' Or we as a team can say, 'We had the lead in the fourth quarter and didn't get a stop. We had the ball in the red zone and didn't get another touchdown.' "

He added, "We deserved to lose that game because we had opportunities to win and didn't make the plays."

Instead of sulking, the team shook off one bad practice, beat Cal 21-3 in the Big Game the following Saturday and then ran the table in the rest of the games.

Stanford No. 2? Stanford was ranked eighth in the most recent AP poll and finished sixth in the final BCS standings. A site called College Football Universe has its esoteric method of ranking FBS teams. In its reckoning, Stanford is ranked No. 2, behind Notre Dame. Alabama, which will play the Irish for the national title, is sixth.

It's too complicated to get into here, but in the site's calculations, Notre Dame wound up with 488 points and Stanford 445. The rest of the top 10: Florida 437, Ohio State 399, Alabama 380, Kansas State 365, Oregon 356, Nebraska 319, Oklahoma 318 and LSU 300.

Wisconsin, by the way, was 32nd. San Jose State was 19th (this was before the Spartans' bowl win) and Cal 84th.

Scoreless Ty: Wide receiver Ty Montgomery was supposed to be the Cardinal's playmaker this year. A midseason knee injury cost him three games, and after playing sparingly in his return, he finished with only 23 catches and no touchdowns.

A year ago, he stood out in practice in the run-up to the Fiesta Bowl and had a season-best seven catches for 120 yards against Oklahoma State. Now, he backs up Jamal-Rashad Patterson.

"It's been disappointing personally," he said, "but I'm happy where the team is."

Bear-bound Buh: On passing downs, Wisconsin's defense usually has only two players in a down stance while the other linemen and linebackers are standing, to keep the offense guessing on who will rush the passer and who will stay back.

Badgers linebackers coach Andy Buh, who becomes Cal's defensive coordinator a few days after the game, said he'll bring that third-down package to Berkeley.

He declined to assess the players he'll have next season with the Bears. "I haven't sat down and analyzed it enough to comment," he said.

Before joining the Badgers this year, Buh was defensive coordinator at Nevada for two years after spending three years on the Stanford staff, the last two as co-defensive coordinator.

No Luck in Pasadena: Shaw said he and Andrew Luck traded texts at Christmas. "He's so proud of these guys," he said. "I gave him a pass for missing the Rose Bowl because (the Colts) are in the playoffs."

The way the Ball spins: Freshman Barry Sanders Jr., redshirting this year, has played the role of Badgers tailback Montee Ball on the Stanford scout team. "They told me he likes to spin, so I try to implement that in some of my runs," he said. Like his Hall of Fame father, Sanders has a magnificent spin move in his own right, but he said, "It's hard when somebody tells you to spin. It's better naturally."