Three years ago this month, Stanford football defeated USC, 24-23, in one of the most shocking outcomes in sports history. The Cardinal came into the Coliseum as a six-touchdown underdog and left as a program reborn, having just completed the Biggest Upset Ever.

Just 39 games later, Stanford is now a five-touchdown favorite against Washington State. For those of you who are unfamiliar with point-spreads and Vegas odds, these are huge numbers. USC’s 41-point (depending on who you ask, 40.5- to 41.5-) spread over Stanford in 2007 was one of the biggest spreads ever, meaning it was expected to be one of the most lopsided contests of the decade and certainly of the year. This week, the Cardinal’s 34.5-point margin in Vegas is the biggest point-spread in the country.

Let that sit for a moment. In less time than it takes Brett Favre to retire, Stanford went from being one of the biggest patsies in the nation to one of the “big boys.” For a team that won one game all year in 2006, a team that had just broken a nine-game home losing streak, a team that hadn’t even finished .500 since 2001, the thought that just a few years would separate the Cardinal from being a five-touchdown favorite would have been ludicrous in 2007.

Three years ago, Stanford fans were celebrating their long-awaited first victory at the new Stanford Stadium, even if it was against San Jose State. Now the Cardinal faithful are busy discussing possible BCS bowl scenarios and weighing the team’s strength of schedule for the computers.

So, Stanford supporters, on the eve of an expected gimme, before you worry about how this game will affect the Cardinal’s spot in the polls, have some perspective. Only 159 weeks ago, you were probably waking up ready to cringe at yet another impending beatdown. This morning, no one unrelated to a Washington State football player or coach can reasonably expect the Cougars to beat Stanford.

The turnaround engineered by head coach Jim Harbaugh and these classes of players has been truly remarkable. Before last year, the Cardinal had failed to qualify for a bowl game for seven straight seasons. Stanford had had only one major individual award winner (Troy Walters won the Biletnikoff Award in 1999) since Elway.

After just six games this year, a bowl is seen as inevitable, and the entire year has been about fighting for Pac-10 supremacy. Stanford writers and fans, including yours truly, still bemoan Heisman voters passing over Toby Gerhart by a razor-thin margin last year, even though Gerhart still won the incredibly prestigious Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. And many fans follow Andrew Luck’s Heisman campaign religiously, obsessing over his stats each week, regardless of the game’s outcome.

All this is not to say that Stanford should be happy to get here and no further, or that this is the peak for this Cardinal team. Plenty of achievements (winning a bowl game, going to the Rose Bowl, national title contention, etc.) remain ahead for the program. But it’s worth a look back to remember where this team was.

After all, this isn’t tennis, swimming or women’s volleyball. Stanford isn’t a perennial No. 1 team looking to add yet another title to its trophy case. This is football, where the Cardinal has won just two bowl games in the last 32 years.

It’s easy to get caught up in Stanford’s success, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Wanting and expecting the most from your football program is what fandom is all about. But before you check midseason Heisman polls, gripe about the coaches’ poll or worry about the national perception of Stanford fans, take a second to reflect on how far the team has come. Remember the days of blowing a 24-3 lead with 7:04 to play, punting on third down and losing to UC-Davis.

So this weekend, don’t overlook Washington State. No, I don’t think the Cougars will pull the shocker. After all, they haven’t won a game outside the state of Washington since 2006, and they currently rank last in the nation in total defense. But Washington State is everything the Cardinal was a few years ago, and everyone remembers what happened then. And even if it is a blowout, enjoy it to the very end. You never know when you’ll go back to being on the other end.

Jacob Jaffe lives life on the “other end.” Go visit the dark side at jwjaffe “at” stanford.edu.