Oregon Football Asserts Itself Against Stanford

The Oregon Ducks may have started slow against their Pac-10 foes the Stanford Cardinal, but they made it up in a big way. This game had a lot of intrigue coming in, with championship hopes lingering upon a victory. The Ducks took some blows in the beginning, but fired back in an offensive onslaught to win the game with a final score of 52-31.

Ninth-ranked Stanford came into Eugene ready to put up a fight. This certainly isn’t the Stanford team we have been used to seeing in the past years – one who used to be the shame of the Pac 10. This Stanford team is well coached by Jim Harbough, and they play a physical brand of football.

Stanford QB Andrew Luck started off well throwing and rushing for a touchdown in the first quarter. At the end of the first, Stanford was up 21-3. It looked as if Stanford was about to come into Oregon on the road and pull off an old fashion beat-down, but the Ducks still had something in them.

Entering the second quarter, the stadium was noticeably quiet. Oregon came back firing and put up 21 points in the second quarter and found themselves only down by a touchdown with a lot of momentum going into half time.

The quick Oregon offense came back in the second half and picked up where they left off. The quickness of the offense looked like it was taking its toll on a tired Stanford defense. At one point it seemed as if one of the Stanford linemen faked an injury just to buy some time between the quick snaps of the Oregon offense.

Oregon continued to run the ball on the ground with stud running back LaMichael James, who finished the game with an impressive 257 rushing yards and three TDs. Andrew Luck threw for 340 yards, two TDs, and a rushing TD, but the two turnovers really hurt. It’s hard to win in a stadium like Oregon (one of the nosiest in the country) when you turn the ball over twice.

This Oregon team is the real deal, and can easily make a run to the championship game if they keep up this kind of play. The only two hurdles left on the Ducks schedule are a matchup with USC (who lost to Washington earlier and should fall in the rankings) and a matchup with Arizona.

Stanford was clearly the biggest hurdle, and this could set Oregon for a perfect record. This win should also catapult them above Boise St. in the rankings, putting them in the number three spot.

The Ducks are good. Look out for them.