Stanford vs. Oregon Football: Andrew Luck Doesn't Need Surname To Lead Cardinal

When Andrew Luck speaks of legacy, he doesn’t speak of his own.

He speaks of Stanford football.

He speaks of what his parents, Oliver and Kathy, have taught him.

Education is important. Being a good person is important. Making an impact is important.

So excuse Luck if his entire life isn’t all about football when he brings his Stanford Cardinal brethren into the bright lights of loud Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, this Saturday evening.

Oh, for the three hours or so that it will take to try to beat fourth-ranked Oregon on the road in a nationally televised game, Luck’s mind will certainly be centered on touchdowns and little else. 

That’s because this is the game Luck has waited for since he stepped foot in Palo Alto three years ago.

Yes, beating USC last season like a lumberjack beats a log was a turning point for Stanford football.

That 55-21 thrashing that then-USC head coach Pete Carroll thought was a byproduct of Stanford running up the score meant something to many.

It meant that this wasn’t the same old Stanford.

This wasn’t Buddy Teevens’ Stanford that produced a .303 winning percentage in the three seasons after Tyrone Willingham took his 44-36-1 career record to the hallowed halls of Notre Dame.

This wasn’t Walt Harris’ Stanford that went a combined 6-17 in 2005 and 2006.

This was Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford, a group of tough-minded kids who weren’t going to be known only for hitting the books and little else on the gridiron.

The point isn’t to get carried away about Stanford’s 4-0 start to the 2010 season or its No. 9 national ranking.

It took Harbaugh until his third season—2009—to get the Cardinal to play football better than .500. In three-plus seasons in Palo Alto, Harbaugh’s record sits at 21-20.

So, no, there hasn’t been a complete metamorphosis of college football culture on the Farm, not yet anyway.

But that’s where Harbaugh dreamt of taking the program when he headed north from the University of San Diego after the 2006 season.

And he’s riding Luck into a raucous Autzen Stadium this week with that goal no more than a quarterback sneak away from his fingertips.

 Chip Kelly’s Boogeyman

“[Andrew Luck] is the best I’ve been around, college or pro,” Harbaugh told KNBR radio this summer. “He’s just got no red flags about him whatsoever. He’s got a lot of talent and a great work ethic.

“And I think he’s got a chance to be even better this year.”

The 6'4", 235-pound Luck hasn’t been just better, he’s been phenomenal in Stanford’s first four contests. 

Luck has thrown 11 touchdowns to two interceptions and has a 169.5 QB rating while leading Stanford to wins over Sacramento State, UCLA, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame. 

And if Stanford wants to knock off Oregon this weekend and set itself up for prime position in the national championship conversation, it will need Luck to be at least as good as those numbers.

Fortunately for Stanford, Luck has the ability to put points on the board, something he will need to do in abundance to keep pace with a Ducks' offense that plays as if it’s offended if scoring drives take longer than four minutes. 

What will emerge from the battle in Eugene this weekend will be interesting because it will be a war based on differences.

With a coach that played 15 seasons in the NFL and has a NFL-caliber QB like Luck, it’s not surprising that Stanford relies on a more pro-style offense.

Stanford runs the ball behind fullback Owen Marecic—a guy who made a name for himself last week at Notre Dame by scoring a rushing touchdown before picking off a pass at middle linebacker and returning it for another six points only minutes later—and then allows Luck to be the superb pocket-passer that he is. 

Oregon’s D knows it will have to key in on Luck and prevent him from using his speed to escape the pass rush.

“[Luck] can make all the right throws, and he is a smart player,” Ducks cornerback Anthony Gildon told The Oregonian. “And he can run.

“He can basically do it all.”

Stanford will test that model against an Oregon team that uses a blitzkrieg of offensive weapons that has been the nation’s most productive offense so far this season, producing 57.8 points per game.

Anticipating an offensive game is a given, but what should worry the Ducks is that they have yet to show any semblance of a defense against a respectable opponent.

Yes, Oregon went to Knoxville and held Tennessee to 13 points, but the Vols rank 60th in the country in points per game.

Last week at Arizona State, Oregon beat the Sun Devils by 11 points but allowed 597 yards of total offense while compiling 405 yards of its own. 

Five hundred ninety-seven yards to Arizona State? 

That’s the boogeyman in head coach Chip Kelly’s dreams, or nightmares, this week.

Now that’s not to say Oregon will not win the game, as we know how talented it is and how tough Eugene can be on an opponent. 

But if Stanford’s defense can create a couple turnovers and give Luck a couple extra possessions to go to work, then what?

The Chase of Jim Plunkett and Glenn “Pop” Warner

But what about the legacy?

Yes, Luck and his legacy.

“It’d be nice to leave a legacy of being that class that was part of the teams that won the Rose Bowl back-to-back,” Luck told Pete Thamel of The New York Times in Thamel’s exceptional profile of the QB. “To turn it around for Stanford winning for good.”

Here’s your chance, Andrew.

By beating Oregon, Stanford will go into next weekend’s bout with USC as a top five team on the inside track to the Rose Bowl and possibly the national title.

America will be feverishly talking about Stanford football for the first time since the damn band got in the way.

Luck says he wants “back-to-back” Rose Bowls for Stanford, but is that even conceivable?

Meaning, is there any way Luck will be back for his redshirt junior season next fall since he’s an elite NFL prospect that has been projected as high as No. 1 overall in the 2011 draft?

Probably not, but if you read into Luck’s character at all you know that there’s more to the kid than chasing a paycheck from a league that may not even have games next year.

“My family raised us that having a degree is important, it’s a must,” Luck told The New York Times. “It’s definitely important for me.”

Of course it is.

Why else would a kid work his tail off to be co-valedictorian in high school and then carry a 3.55 GPA as a architectural design major at Stanford? 

You think the engineering classes and the math books are just for fun?

So here is Luck, the bright young man with the brightest of futures wanting to amend the name of Stanford football because he can.

Luck would like nothing more than to beat Oregon, win a championship, and then fade out of the spotlight and leave the Stanford football program with a pedigree it’s never enjoyed before.

Stanford claims one national title, the one coached by Glenn “Pop” Warner in 1926. 

You know what else Stanford claims only one of?

A Heisman. 

With a red win amidst a sea of yellow and green, Jim Plunkett may soon have company.

Hey, sometimes legacies are written whether you ask for them or not.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at [e-mail].