As the Rascal Flatts song goes, “what hurts the most, is being so close.”

That is what Stanford is feeling after its gut-wrenching loss to those annoying little Golden Bears, losing out on a possible Rose Bowl trip.

That is why Toby Gerhart was emotional leaving the field.

“It hurts, it hurts a lot,” was all he could muster.

That almost goes without saying.  All the nationwide coverage, all the media attention, gave Cardinal fans something they haven’t had since before Tyrone Willingham left:

Hope.

Andrew Luck’s perfect spirals hitting Chris Owusu and Ryan Whalen in between the numbers. Gerhart showing Oregon how to play a man’s game by making the first four guys miss and then making the fifth guy pay for their mistakes. Owen Maricec and his straight craziness. Richard Sherman finally putting it all together and letting Matt Barkley know that he’s not the best freshman quarterback in the country.

This whole season was a coming-out party for Harbaugh’s troops, and as the season went on, the team and the fans experienced something they’ve never had before:

Expectations.

Yeah this loss stings; it stings a lot. I think we can agree that Gerhart summed it up best. The fact that it was to Cal made me want to hurl after the game, so I can just imagine what it did to the players.

"When all is said and done, there's an empty pit in your stomach. We didn't get the Axe back. We let it slip away,” Gerhart said.

However let’s take time to rewind to the beginning of the season. Stanford was predicted to finish no better than seventh in the conference by most media publications. This past week those same news outlets were calling Stanford the hottest team in the nation.

Watching Stanford hand it to Oregon and cream USC filled me with such a satisfactory feeling, I felt like I was watching Troy Walters run up and down the field again.

While the Rose Bowl is now out of reach, a probable Holiday Bowl berth for Stanford will still be a darn good bowl. And on top of that the foundation has been laid for future success. At the beginning of this season my excitement was minimal at best. This all changed on the second game of the season when Stanford lined up for a third and seven at Wake Forest’s 26 yard line.

What ensued was a perfect, NFL caliber pass that was so on the money that Ryan Whalen couldn’t have not scored a touchdown even if he wanted to. No offense to Tavita Pritchard, but the quarterback play this season was absolutely remarkable. Having Luck under center is a feeling that really can’t be put into words. Whether or not that was a season-changing play is irrelevant; but every game after Stanford’s offense and its play calling were not limited by its lack of ability, specifically in the passing game.

The fact that he had a bad game and Stanford still had a chance to win it is a testament to the team and to their belief in each other and in Luck.

Having a quarterback deliver in the marquee games each year is so crucial. An impressive game at Oregon was followed up by a monstrous performance at USC. His future and the future of this team is brighter than any other team in the conference, and one fluke loss to Cal can’t change that.

So to Harbaugh and company: Thank you for the memorable season, but we got two more games to go.

To Bob Bowlsby: Please! Please! Please sign Harbaugh to an extension before we lose him like we did Willingham.

To the team that stole Willingham from us and then later disgraced him: I wouldn’t be surprised if Gerhart came out Saturday with his eyes ablaze and Luck with his arm blessed by the football Gods. I can’t wait to see Jimmy Clausen’s face after he realizes that he’s not even the best quarterback on the field.

Gerhart for Heisman.