Stanford Now Has the Edge : USC: The Cardinal, coming off upset of No. 1 Notre Dame, will try to end the Trojans’ dominance today.

USC hasn’t beaten Notre Dame in eight years. Stanford did it last week.

That alone should be enough to motivate USC, which has a 14-game unbeaten streak against the Cardinal going into today’s game at Stanford Stadium, where USC has lost only once in the last 34 years--and not since 1970, when Jim Plunkett was a Stanford senior.

Stanford is 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference, but its record belies its abilities.

The Cardinal lost to Colorado in its opener, 21-17, when Eric Bieniemy scored on a one-yard, fourth-down run with 12 seconds left. It lost to UCLA the next week at the Rose Bowl, 32-31, when Brad Daluiso kicked a 21-yard field goal with one second to play.

USC (4-1, 1-1) is still expected to extend its winning streak in the 69-year-old stadium to 11 games, but not without a struggle.

“This game means everything to us,” USC Coach Larry Smith said.

Stanford, a loser against San Jose State two weeks ago, stunned No. 1-ranked and previously unbeaten Notre Dame, 36-31, last Saturday at South Bend, Ind., ending a 12-game winless streak on the road.

The Cardinal boasts a variety of offensive weapons:

--Quarterback Jason Palumbis, his injured right shoulder surgically repaired last November, has discovered after sitting on the bench last season that he can still throw. He has completed 70.4% of his passes to put him on a pace to break Turk Schonert’s one-season school record of 67% and to challenge the Pac-10 record of 70.7%, set by former California quarterback Rich Campbell in 1980.

Palumbis, who completed 26 of 34 passes for 256 yards against Notre Dame, has been even more accurate after halftime, completing 77% of his second-half passes, including 15 of 17 against the Irish.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Smith said.

--Halfback Glyn Milburn, a transfer from Oklahoma, is a multiple threat and ranks fifth in the nation in all-purpose running.

A sophomore who rushed for a state-record 2,718 yards as a senior at Santa Monica High three years ago, Milburn is among the Pac-10 leaders in rushing, receiving, kickoff-return yardage and punt-return yardage.

“The (most important) addition to their team,” Smith said.

--Split end Ed McCaffrey, who has caught 34 passes for 450 yards since missing the Cardinal’s opener because of back spasms, leads the nation in receptions per game and ranks third in the nation in receiving yardage.

A senior from Allentown, Pa., and older brother of Duke basketball player Billy McCaffrey, he is on a pace to break the conference one-season records for total receptions and receiving yardage.

--Fullback Tommy Vardell, who scored on four one-yard runs against Notre Dame, has 11 touchdowns this season, eight from one yard out and none on a run of longer than eight yards.

He needs only two more rushing touchdowns to break Brad Muster’s single-season school record and 11 to tie a conference record shared by former USC tailbacks O.J. Simpson and Marcus Allen.

Vardell, who has rushed for only 199 yards, has scored most of his touchdowns behind Bob Whitfield, a 6-foot-7, 300-pound sophomore tackle from Banning High in Wilmington who was recruited by USC, among many others.

“He’s really a dominant player,” Cardinal Coach Dennis Green said.

It’s no wonder Stanford has scored a touchdown or a field goal on 20 of 22 possessions inside its opponents’ 20-yard line.

The red zone, as it’s called, has been the Cardinal zone.

On defense, Stanford has not been as efficient. The Cardinal has been out-gained in all but one of its games.

Still, Stanford held Notre Dame to seven second-half points in overcoming a 24-7 deficit last week.

“They’ve put it all together,” Smith said.

And at a bad time for USC.

Trojan Notes

USC tailback Ricky Ervins, who has not participated in contact drills since suffering a sprained left ankle Sept. 29 at Ohio State, did not make the trip. He will again be replaced by sophomore Mazio Royster, who ran for 203 yards and three touchdowns last Saturday night in a 30-17 victory over Washington State at the Coliseum. . . . Backup guard Kian Ramsay did not make the trip because of a neck sprain.

USC hasn’t lost to Stanford since 1975, when the Cardinal won, 13-10, at the Coliseum. In 1979, behind quarterback Turk Schonert, Stanford rallied from a 21-0 halftime deficit to a 21-21 tie at the Coliseum, giving the Trojans their only blemish on an 11-0-1 season. . . . Since 1957, USC is 28-3-1 against Stanford. . . . The series dates to 1905.

Quarterback Todd Marinovich needs two completions to move into third place on USC’s all-time passing list and 49 to move into second place. . . . USC’s Scott Lockwood leads the Pacific 10 and ranks fifth in the nation with a punt-return average of 20.7 yards. . . . Stanford had been 0-11-1 on the road since 1987, before winning last week at Notre Dame.

Stanford Coach Dennis Green does not anticipate a letdown by his team after last week’s emotional victory over Notre Dame. Watching USC on film sobered the Cardinal, he said. . . . USC Coach Larry Smith, on tight end Yonnie Jackson, who will replace injured Frank Griffin in the starting lineup: “The best thing he does is block the sweep. He blocks that as well as or better than Frank.”