David Shaw was Stanford's offensive coordinator in 2009, when - spitting in the face of football convention - the Cardinal went for two points while leading USC by four touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Following Stanford's blowout victory at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Pete Carroll famously uttered three words to Jim Harbaugh: "What's your deal?"
Asked to recall the game - and, maybe, Harbaugh's deal - on Tuesday, Stanford's first-year head coach demurred.
"That was a long time ago," he said. "We've all moved on since then."
In a role reversal few could have foreseen, fourth-ranked Stanford will take on the 20nd-ranked Trojans on Saturday in a game that will be shown nationally on ABC. The Cardinal (7-0, 5-0) is the reigning bully of the Pac-12 Conference; Stanford is coming off a record-setting 65-21 rout of Washington in Palo Alto. Running back Stepfan Taylor paced a 446-yard team rushing attack, smashing a 30-year-old record.
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USC, meanwhile, is days removed from its largest win of the Lane Kiffin era. The Trojans (6-1, 3-1) manhandled Notre Dame 31-17 in the Irish's first home night game in 21 years.
Saturday's game will be the Trojans' toughest test of the season, and - considering they are ineligible for the postseason - might serve as the team's default bowl game.
Certainly, USC won't be lacking for motivation.
Stanford stunned the Trojans 24-23 at the Coliseum in 2007, a game that's still remembered as one of the biggest upsets in recent years. Quarterback Tavita Pritchard, a backup who was forced into duty when starter T.C. Ostrander suffered a seizure earlier in the week, threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on fourth-and-goal to cement the win with 49 seconds left.
Shaw said he remembers the presence that Pritchard, now a defensive assistant with the Cardinal, brought in a hostile environment.
"The entire week of practice, he had such confidence," Shaw said. "He gave us in the coaching staff such ease because we knew he was preparing, he wouldn't flinch."
Two years later, the Cardinal pounded the ball - and ran up the score - on the way to a 55-21 victory.
"They did a phenomenal job of coming at USC and doing it again and again and again," Kiffin said.
Much has changed in two years.
Carroll left for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks following the 2009 season, and Harbaugh went to the 49ers a year later.
USC was hit with NCAA sanctions, and Stanford developed Andrew Luck into a star.
Kiffin and Shaw, former offensive assistants, lack the fire or panache of their predecessors. But both admitted that past games will make Saturday's showdown special.
"We had heard a lot about it," Kiffin said. "Coaches change, people change and everything."
