Feb. 1, 2012 can now be considered more than just a day that the fax machine in the Stanford football office was particularly busy.

Consider it the Cardinal's first coup of the post-Andrew Luck era, the national signing day that saw letters of intent roll in from six prized offensive linemen, four of whom -- Joshua Garnett, Kyle Murphy, Graham Shuler, and Johnny Caspers -- are flexing their muscles as starters now.

Growing pains have been prevalent between Point A and Point B -- Stanford sputtered offensively at times in each of the past three seasons -- but here in 2015, the offensive line has dominated in road-grading fashion. The Cardinal, behind those 2012 recruits who are now seniors, have rushed for over 300 yards in three consecutive games for the first time in program history.

Running back Christian McCaffrey, a product of the 2014 recruiting class, obviously has plenty to do with Stanford's unprecedented rushing success. He's currently leading the nation with 1,518 all-purpose yards, and his average of 253 all-purpose yards per game has him on track to break Barry Sanders' 1988 NCAA single-season record.

Though that mark obviously belongs to the elder Sanders, it seems strangely fitting that his son is McCaffrey's teammate: Barry J. Sanders has given Stanford an excellent second rushing option, averaging eight yards per carry to supplement McCaffrey's 6.5 yards per rush.

Those numbers, plus Remound Wright's 6.8 yards per carry and seven touchdowns, all border on silly. And Stanford's veteran offensive line is the common denominator in front of all of them. Quarterback Kevin Hogan has been excellent, too -- his 202.9 rating is a full 45 points ahead of the next-best Pac-12 quarterback -- but the foundation of the Cardinal's success has been rooted in the dominance of the hogs up front.

That's where Stanford is playing clean, powerful football that's driving opponents backward at the point of attack. The result of this success in the trenches: 6.0 yards per carry in conference play (best in the Pac-12) and only eight sacks allowed, just one off the league pace.

Individual strength in all offensive phases has added up to big damage on the scoreboard. The Cardinal are averaging 48.5 points per game in conference play, also the top total in the Pac-12 and nearly 25 points better than their 2014 mark (24.7 points per game). Many expected Stanford's offense to be better this season, but not better in such jaw-dropping fashion, especially after the 16-6 season-opening debacle at Northwestern.

So David Shaw's team is undoubtedly firing on all cylinders, but their biggest test yet may be looming. A Washington squad that leads the Pac-12 in scoring defense (16.8 points per game) and total defense visits Stanford next. If the Cardinal manage to also pass this test with flying colors, it'll be time to start seriously considering their offense the league's best -- less than two months after the performance at Northwestern made it look like one of the country's worst.

And that cataclysmic shift illustrates the unpredictably of a college football season.