The lowly San Jose State Spartans (0-3) were just what the doctor ordered: Stanford (1-1) claimed its first win in 308 days — its first in the new stadium and its first under rookie Coach Jim Harbaugh.

Toby Gerhart, the bruising sophomore tailback, blew the game open early in the third quarter on an eye-popping run. He started to his right and hit two holes just before closing with quick, decisive cuts. Tacklers grasped and missed, Gerhart’s outstretched left arm shed the last defender and Stanford had a 13-yard touchdown and 16-0 lead. The Spartans never threatened again.

“I loved him, I really did,” Harbaugh said of Gerhart. “He really brought a balance to our game, a physical presence. He was dragging people, knocking them off the ball.”

Gerhart was tackled from behind on his longest run of the day, a 48-yarder in the second quarter that would have otherwise gone for six. But what he lacks in speed he makes up for in power, vision and a nose for daylight otherwise missing from the tailback corps. He is finally healthy after an injury-filled freshmen year, and with No. 12 Oregon, undefeated Arizona State, No. 1 USC and a deceptively tough TCU on deck, the timing couldn’t be any better.

“I think times are changing,” Gerhart said. “Hopefully we can build on this and keep running.”

Senior place kicker Derek Belch set Stanford en route to 37 points — four more than it scored in last year’s five home games combined. His 52-yarder in the first quarter was Stanford’s longest field goal in eight years, and his 37 and 50-yarders in the second quarter gave the Cardinal a 9-0 halftime lead.

“Coach Harbaugh, Coach Durkin looked at me and asked if I thought I could make it,” Belch said of his first kick. “When they ask you, that means they have confidence that you know what you can do, you’re the decision maker. So I pretty much walked out there and said, ‘Alright, it’s going in.’”

The offensive line pass-protected beautifully for senior quarterback T.C. Ostrander, who hit his rhythm in the fourth quarter. His 46-yard pass to a wide open Richard Sherman made the score 23-0, senior tailback Anthony Kimble (80 yards) added a 14-yard score a minute later and Ostrander’s 27-yard check-down to junior tight end Austin Gunder provided the final margin.

Still, it was another poor showing for Ostrander, especially considering the time he had to find targets. An underthrown ball to double-covered senior wide receiver Evan Moore in the end zone was his only pick of the day, but he forced his receivers into tougher catches and misfired more than his 18-of-28 for 220 yards stats would suggest.

But there to bail out Ostrander was a defense that gave San Jose State just 32 rushing yards, 163 total yards and 23 minutes of possession. The Cardinal’s defensive star was sophomore safety Bo McNally, who broke up Adam Tarfalis’ fourth-down bootleg pass in the second quarter and then picked off the Spartan quarterback in the fourth quarter for the final nail in the coffin.

Before booking your trip to Pasadena, remember that San Jose State has only scored 17 points in three games this year and was missing its two best tailbacks Saturday night. They looked like a high school team at times, and SJSU Coach Dick Tomey didn’t hold back on his team.

“We were awful,” he said. “We were badly coached. We played bad.”

The Cardinal, meanwhile, allowed UCLA 624 yards in the season-opener, so whether it can improve any against explosive Oregon will be a much more decisive test.

A halftime ceremony honored the late legend Bill Walsh, who played at SJSU and coached at Stanford.

“I know Bill Walsh was here tonight,” Harbaugh said. “There were times I could just feel like he was on the headset. There’s just part of me that believes he was looking over us tonight.”

The Stanford Band also unleashed its funniest performance in years at halftime. The Band pretended to have been reformed into a traditional USC-style marching band, playing an emotionless “All Right Now” and “Tribute to Tribute to Troy.” The Tree then escaped from his cage to knock over the Band, and they were their old scattered selves, right down to taking their time as they formed the N in F-U-N.