A lot will be riding on Oregon’s upcoming matchup with Stanford. The first official playoff committee rankings are scheduled to be released this Tuesday and it will coincide with an opportunity for the Ducks to end the quote unquote “Stanford problem.”
“You can’t let your emotions get the best of you,” Troy Hill said. “They (Stanford) always come out and present challenges. They’re big, strong and now they have another element (offense) that they showed against Oregon State, so they’re going to bring out their talents, we just got to step up to the plate.”
Regardless, the No. 5 ranked Ducks will likely need to win out and win the Pac-12 championship in order to finish among the top four.
Even amid the buildup to the game, the Ducks have remained in tact with their one game at a time mentality. Considering both teams have underwent natural changes in the past few years — graduating players and staff changes — the last two matchups will not be relevant aside from the emotional tension that has accumulated during two very closely contested battles.
“It’s a big week,” Ifo Ekpre-Olomu said. “It’s two different teams: they’re not the same team they were last year, we’re not the same team we were last year. Every year you have a different team and you have different advantages and disadvantages, so we’ll see how the game goes Saturday.”
From Oregon’s perspective, Stanford still possesses the very problems that have awarded them two wins in the last two meetings. Physicality is still a factor for the Cardinal, but the idea that Oregon’s success against Michigan State earlier in the year will carry over into this game isn’t something they have alluded to.
“The biggest similarities are just that they (Stanford) are really good on defense,” Scott Frost said. “Schematically they’re not really the same (as Michigan State) , but just both teams have just an outstanding defense.”
Generally, the Ducks will be focused on making every drive count. If any lessons have been learned against the Cardinal it is to take advantage of every opportunity. It will be no different this weekend.
“The biggest thing is that we have to take advantage of every drive that we get,” Frost said. “We only had eight or nine drives in that game last year. They kept us off the ball, kept us off the field by controlling the ball. We’re not going to get many chances in a game like that where they’re trying to slow the game down, so we can’t make mistakes.”
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim