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Stanford Cardinal @ Oregon Ducks Football Preview

In past years, USC-Oregon was the Pac-10 game of the year, the matchup in which a Rose Bowl berth hung in the balance. This season, Oregon is still in the ring, but with USC ineligible for the Rose Bowl, everyone wondered who could take the place of the Trojans on the West Coast and add some oom-pah-pah to West Coast football.

Say no more: The Stanford Cardinal have arrived. Now they’re ready to take on Oregon in a no-holds-barred bare-knuckle brawl for Pac-10 supremacy. What’s even better about this battle royale is that it should be fun as hell. The Cardinal and the Ducks put on a show last year. They’re poised to deliver even more fireworks this time around.

The Cardinal destroyed Oregon’s defense in the 2009 meeting between these two schools. Stanford rolled up 505 total yards and scored over “half-a-hundred” points in a 51-42 win over the Ducks. The duo of quarterback Andrew Luck and Heisman Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhart were too much for UO defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti’s charges. Stanford moved the ball at will and outpaced a lethal Oregon offense in a shootout of the highest order. Stanford also controlled the ball for nearly 38 minutes, an essential aspect of any game against Oregon. The Cardinal’s ability to impose their running game against Oregon’s front seven stood out as the biggest single ingredient of a wild win.

This year, Gerhart isn’t around, but Stanford is continuing to employ a distinctly physical style of football mixed with vertical play-action passing. Stanford is loaded with talent, a reality indicated by last Saturday’s 37-14 win at Notre Dame. The Cardinal pounded the Fighting Irish and frankly left a ton of points on the field. Stanford had to kick four straight field goals in succession, yet still managed to win by 23 in one of college football’s more daunting environments. If Stanford can max out, it will not only play this game close; it will win.

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The Ducks, for their part, have a remarkable ability to score in a lightning-quick manner. Oregon has had only three possessions this season that have lasted over four minutes. Quarterback Darron Thomas has picked up the offense with a fluidity few expected after the departure of former quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to Ole Miss. Oregon uncorked a 35-point second half against a solid Tennessee defense on Sept. 11. The Ducks then hit multiple big plays of 40 yards or more in a 42-31 win over Arizona State on Sept. 25. This team can score from any place on the field at any time. Few teams in America have a home-run threat at running back the way Oregon does with LaMichael James. The Ducks, under coach Chip Kelly (the recipient of a brand-new contract extension complete with a layered buyout provision), know how to exploit opposing defenses, and since Stanford has spent this season playing awful offensive teams – UCLA, then Wake Forest, and then Notre Dame, none of whom can move the ball with any appreciable consistency – Oregon is going to enjoy a decided advantage against the slower Cardinal defense. Oregon’s best offensive performance will give Stanford’s offense zero margin for error on Saturday night in Eugene.

The only thing is that Stanford has already proven that it can play a virtually perfect offensive game against the Ducks. Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh knows how to outflank Aliotti and the UO defense. For this reason, the Ducks’ prospects aren’t as bright as they might appear at first glance.

The 93-point shootout staged last year at Stanford could very well be replicated in this game. All in all, Oregon should enjoy a comfort zone on offense. Moreover, the Ducks have been tested more than the Cardinal have this season. Then again, Stanford brings a level of physicality to the rodeo, a bucking-bronco sensibility that could mash the finesse-oriented Ducks into submission.

Oregon athleticism. Stanford strength. It should all add up to a classic confrontation in the Willamette Valley. Buckle up your seat belt and tighten up your chin strap. This will not be a game for the faint of heart, and its consequences will reverberate throughout the rest of the Pac-10 season.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer