LOS ANGELES -- When defensive lineman Blake Lueders graduated after last season, Stanford's last on-field connection in the Jim Harbaugh era was gone. Only players who had seen game action under David Shaw remained.

Lueders' departure just so happened to coincide with a five-loss Cardinal campaign, the program's worst showing since 2009.

So if Shaw's naysayers needed ammunition, they suddenly had truckloads of it. Their prophecy was materializing: It appeared that Stanford, the only program to make four consecutive BCS bowl games from 2010-2013, was fading from its elite perch as carryover positives of the Harbaugh era faded.

"That's been a negative way to recruit against Stanford for the last few years -- saying that all of Harbaugh's guys are leaving and all of Coach Shaw's guys are the foundation and the core of the program," Cardinal left tackle Kyle Murphy said. "After last season was a little disappointing, people were saying, 'Oh yeah, it's come to fruition now.'"

Stanford averaged only 23.8 points per game in conference in 2014, a mark that was second to last in the Pac-12. The Cardinal were also set to graduate nearly all of a defense that had led the league for three years running, so outside anxiety kicked in.

Then a 16-6 loss at Northwestern opened the 2015 season, and alarms began blaring more loudly on The Farm than they had in almost 10 years. Stanford mustered only 3.9 yards per play against the Wildcats, the worst performance since the dreaded Walt Harris era.

But suddenly, a switch flipped. The Cardinal morphed into a new beast. Behind an offense that was roughly as productive as the units Andrew Luck had helmed years before, they ripped off eight straight wins on their way to another Pac-12 Championship. Friday's Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual against Iowa marks Stanford's third trip in four years to The Granddaddy of Them All.

"I guess we really proved them wrong this year, having a great year and turning things around," Murphy said. "Hopefully Coach Shaw gets the respect that he deserves now."

Outside respect did come in the form of Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors for Shaw. But the resulting positivity and cohesion on the inside of the program is what's most significant. A year after he feared his team was fracturing under the stress of losing, Shaw has earned true validation with this 11-2 campaign. One has to rewind to the 1930s to find the last time Stanford punched tickets to Pasadena three times in four years.

These are some of the program's best days, and they've now carried over completely to Shaw's watch. While Harbaugh -- the mad scientist who resurrected the program from 1-11 despair to a 12-1 Orange Bowl championship season -- is still appreciated, his ghost no longer hovers at close distance to Shaw's operation.

"I’ve said it repeatedly how great what Jim did here was, but I think to continually bring up Jim’s name sullies what the coaches and players have done here the past few years," Shaw said. "Jim did a great job and moved on, but we’ve had a lot of players and coaches since then who have done an outstanding job to take the program to the next level. The biggest thing is to see what the guys have done since then, because it’s been really special."

Stanford's stated goal every season since Harbaugh arrived in 2007 has been to win a conference championship and play in the Rose Bowl. The Cardinal didn't actually accomplish either of those objectives until 2012, two years after Harbaugh had left. They've now made it a regular occurrence, effectively dismissing negative recruiting efforts that suggested that the team's earlier success was not much more than an ephemeral Harbaugh-era accident.

"When I was recruited, some schools tried to tell me that the Fiesta and Orange Bowls were just flukes, that Stanford just had a group of great players," Murphy said. "But that's where we came in. We saw that we had a special thing going here, and we might as well keep it going."

Shaw's been the overseer of this continuity, and he points to this recent Rose Bowl binge as a sign that the program is not only maintaining its position amongst the nation's powers, but also fortifying it.

"We talk about winning Pac-12 championships," he said. "That's what we've set out to do. We've worked and pushed and prodded. We took the program from where it was and back to that point where Stanford is one of the elite in college football. And over the past five years, I think you can say that. And that's the mentality I hope we never lose."