With his team up by two touchdowns last week against UCLA, Stanford quarterback Chris Lewis paced the sidelines, jaw clenched and fists pumping as the Cardinal defense took the field. His body language said "linebacker." But the cool, calm resolve inside his head said "winner."

	Backup QB Chris Lewis passed for 250 yards and three touchdowns against UCLA.

And when the game was over, he was not only a winner, but one who had orchestrated back-to-back wins over top-five opponents for the first time in Stanford history.

"It was a lot of fun," a smiling Lewis said.

By then, his body language was back to cool and calm, too.

That he was 20-of-29 passing for 250 yards against UCLA is impressive for any quarterback -- even a quarterback at Stanford, known as "Quarterback U." But add in Lewis' 0-3 record as a starter last season and his return to a backup role again to start the season (behind a healthy Randy Fasani) and it would be easy to find a young man with a fragile psyche rather than one of steely resolve.

"I don't know why," he said, shrugging. "But I don't get nervous. I never have."

Perhaps that's because Lewis has always been a winner and has been a winner under pressure. Sure, the spotlight might not have appeared to be large and luminous when he starred for Poly High School in Long Beach, Calif., but as we all know, everything is amplified in high school -- especially when you're the nation's most heralded quarterback at Los Angeles' most storied football school.

"In the one tough game he had, against Mater Dei, he kept playing his best even when his teammates were getting their rears spanked," said Stanford offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick. "That was really what impressed me most about him, the way he kept his composure and kept playing well. I knew at that point that he was going to be something special."

In Pop Warner football, Lewis led his team to so many come-from-behind victories that they started calling him "Elway." That he ended up at John Elway's school, which also produced John Brodie, Jim Plunkett and Guy Benjamin, among others, is not surprising. Lewis' older sister, Robyn, is also on the Stanford volleyball team.

When he was recruiting Lewis, Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham was most impressed by his composure and personality.

"Things didn't bother him when everything was going crazy," Willingham said.

In fact, in media conferences leading up to the UCLA game, Lewis was more concerned about mid-terms than questions about his ability to lead the Cardinal coming off the bench. At Oregon, he completed just three of 10 passes in the first half, but came back with a 9-for-16 effort in the second half and won the game. Against UCLA he was brilliant again, at one point completing 12 straight passes.

But the way he reacted to his three interceptions is, perhaps, equally remarkable. Lewis knew he made a couple of bad decisions, but he didn't let them interfere with his focus.

Because he has had just two years in Stanford's system (redshirting the 1999 season), the coaches know Lewis will make mistakes, especially considering the Cardinal playbook is some 250 pages with plays on both sides. Good thing Lewis is as much a student of the game as he is in the classroom.

	“	I don't know why, but I don't get nervous. I never have. ”
		— Stanford QB Chris Lewis

"There were a lot of points where I felt lost with the system last year," Lewis said. "It's really hard for a quarterback to come into this program and learn the system right away. I was swimming last year. There were times I just did not know what I was doing. I would get the ball and pretend that I knew."

Admitted Diedrick: "We ask and demand a lot of the quarterbacks on any given play."

And much of it is learned during game action -- only so much can be transferred from page to brain. Willingham would have been more than happy to keep Lewis in a reserve role all season, but he also knows that Lewis is getting valuable experience for the future. And with this season plus two more years of eligibility left, just how good Lewis can become is a question the Cardinal are eager to answer.

For now, however, they become more confident in Lewis as the minutes roll on. The offense is now almost as varied and open under Lewis as it was with Fasani, even though Lewis is considered to be not nearly as mobile.

It helped that Stanford established the running game early against UCLA, with Kerry Carter and Brian Allen combining for almost 200 yards and receivers Luke Powell and Teyo Johnson each making spectacular catch after catch to keep drives alive.

"The guys have a lot of confidence in Chris. Sometimes that's the only difference between great teams and good teams," Johnson said.

Bill Walsh says this Stanford team -- under Lewis or Fasani -- is better than the Stanford team that made the Rose Bowl two years ago. Where the Cardinal go from here depends a lot on Saturday, playing Washington in Seattle, where Stanford hasn't won in its last 10 trips.

"I feel like we can play with anyone in the country right now," Lewis says. "Play them and beat them. It's a matter of confidence."

And steely, cool calm.

ESPN's Shelley Smith does weekly reports for College GameDay.