Stanford vs. UCLA 2012 reaction: Cardinal's clinch of Pac-12 North title a welcome sight for fans

A clinching victory over the UCLA Bruins to secure a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game and a rematch with the Bruins was music to Stanford Cardinal fans' ears on Saturday.

Now needing just a repeat victory over the Bruins to make their way to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-12 champions, the Cardinal's performance on Saturday proved easier than expected for the guys over at Rule of Tree, who were impressed with the dominating nature of the victory.

Quite simply, the Cardinal authored a dominant performance that has to leave the players and the coaches feeling pretty good about their chances next week. The offense moved the ball with ease (381 total yards) and the Stanford defense sacked Brett Hundley seven times, held Johnathan Franklin to just 65 yards rushing and forced two turnovers.

The defensive effort combined with what the bloggers saw as a disengaged Bruins team on the night. With the Pac-12 Championship Game rematch looming, the guys were hesitant to claim anything about the prospects of the Cardinal in the rematch, but were pleased overall with the performance.

It helped that UCLA didn't seem to be entirely locked in tonight - the Bruins dropped several easy passes and were penalized 12 times for 135 yards - but the Cardinal was quite simply the better team on offense, defense and special teams this evening in Los Angeles.

See you on the Farm on Friday, Bruins. We've got Roses on our minds.