I was watching the LSU-Florida game Saturday night, rooting for the Tigers to maintain their superiority as the No. 1 team in college football when the news came.
Stanford beat USC 24-23.
I mean, the conference’s doormat year-in and year-out were 41-point underdogs playing with its second-string quarterback and beat the No. 2 team in the nation that boasted a 35-game winning streak at home.
Immediately, I started rooting against LSU, hoping they would be the latest top-10 to lose and would cement California as the No. 1 team. LSU clinched the win in the final minutes and Cal is No. 2 in the polls. Oh well.
But suddenly, the loss to Cal doesn’t seem like it’ll guarantee Oregon the Holiday Bowl berth or worse come December.
Thanks to Stanford’s win over the now-No. 10 Trojans, the Ducks’ run for the roses is given new hope. USC’s epic collapse, along with nearly every other top-10 team losing the past two weeks, has changed the landscape of college football. The Ducks, by just sitting on their hands this week, moved up five spots to No. 9 and that bitter taste of Cameron Colvin’s fumble in the last game should be cleansed from people’s mouths.
Sure, the Ducks could be the No. 3 team right now if they beat Cal and talks of a BCS title would be legitimate. Instead, Cal can start having those aspirations right now and they deserve it, because they’re one of the few teams that haven’t slipped at this point.
But if the past two weeks, and Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State in the first week, taught us anything, no one can take any game or team for granted – ‘Take it one game at a time.’ I tend to hate that cliché when it spews from some of the Oregon players’ mouths, but there’s a reason they say it ever so often.
Stanford proved that reason Saturday when it beat USC thanks, in large part, to quarterback John David Booty’s four interceptions. If Oregon managed to pick off Booty twice, I would have thought it to be a good day for the Ducks’ defense.
Part of the blame can be placed on a broken finger on Booty’s throwing hand and his attempt to play through the pain, but that doesn’t explain why USC ran for only 95 yards on the ground with a 2.5 yard per-carry average. How does that happen? Did the Stanford defense finally learn how to fill running lanes or did the plethora of USC running backs have a rough night before the game?
Either way, it spells good news for Oregon’s chances when the Trojans visit Eugene this month. Last year I thought USC losing to Oregon State was a good sign for the Ducks. Oregon never came close, but this is a completely different matter. This is losing to Stanford at home – and the Trojans will never live down this loss.
The week before, USC revealed its flaws against Washington but no one but Jim Harbaugh and the Cardinal could have seen a victory like this ever happening.
Now all the Ducks have to do is continue to believe that the only team that’s going to beat them is themselves. If they don’t turn over the ball, they’re likely to score enough points to outdistance any team they play against.
Of course, as we’ve all learned this past weekend, the Ducks don’t want to start thinking about USC until after Saturday’s game against Washington State if they want to avoid being the latest top-10 team to be upset.
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