STANFORD — Last Saturday night at Stanford Stadium, the Aggies shocked most of the pundits and all of the Cardinal — but not themselves or their roaring, cheering, ultimately hoarse fans. The team won 20-17 on a late touchdown, with just 8 seconds left on the clock.

According to the Davis Enterprise, Aggie quarterback Jon Grant told his team in the huddle: "What better stage could we be on? We're in Stanford Stadium and we're about to have a game-winning drive."

And they did, using a play that hadn't even been practiced all of last week, when Blaise Smith caught a three-yard pass from Grant in those final seconds.

The Aggies (1-2), who are in the third year of a four-year transition from Division II to Division I-AA, were not intimidated by the Pac-10 environment, keeping Stanford's offense out of the end zone all game and allowing just 180 yards for the night.

The Stanford team, barely able to extend the customary post-game congratulations to their UC Davis opponents, looked dazed and confused as they wandered off the field to the locker room. Left to celebrate were the fans in the stands and — out on the field under the stadium lights — the spirit squad, the stunt squad and the Cal Aggie Band-Uh.

One columnist who predicted, sort of, the possibility of the impossible was Sacramento Bee columnist Mark Kreidler. He said, "You only think they're not alike. You only think that because Stanford competes in the Pacific-10 Conference and has maybe 800,000 football players on scholarship, and UC Davis has this reputation as the mostly independent Little Engine That Could."

And now, other sports sages are saying UC Davis' win over Stanford may be the biggest college football upset in history.

"There have been notable college football upsets ... UC Davis over Stanford, though, may beat all," Los Angeles Times columnist Chris Dufresne wrote on Monday, pointing out that while UC Davis has only 35 scholarships, Stanford is allowed 85 under NCAA rules.

"The stars all lined up right," Aggie coach Bob Biggs told Dufresne in a phone interview. So, the columnist asked the coach, where does Saturday's miracle rank? "This has to be the biggest win," Biggs replied, "just when you look at the odds, when you look at the programs, and what emphasis is put on the programs, all those sorts of things."

Also this week, Sports Illustrated's web site, SI.com, proclaimed UC Davis its "Team of the Week." Maybe that's just sports writer hyperbole.

The last time UC Davis' football team officially played Stanford, Herbert Hoover was visiting his namesake hydroelectric dam in Arizona as one of the last public tours of his lame-duck administration. The date was Nov. 12, 1932. Stanford won 59-0.

Meanwhile, the Aggies and their fans are already looking forward to their annual gridiron rivalry with the guys across the river at Hornet Stadium, tomorrow, Sept. 24, at the Causeway Classic.

See you there at 2:05 p.m. Go Ags!