With 7:58 remaining in the fourth quarter in Stanford’s game against Notre Dame last Saturday, senior Owen Marecic scored two touchdowns in a 13-second span to extend the Cardinal’s lead over the Fighting Irish and helped the Cardinal improve to 4-0 on the year, marking the programs best start since the 1986 season.
On his first score, Marecic capped an 11-play, 49-yard drive with a one-yard scoring charge through the middle of the stout Stanford offensive line. After the ensuing kickoff, Marecic then intercepted Irish quarterback Dayne Crist’s first pass of the possession and returned it 20 yards for another Cardinal score.
Stanford 37, Notre Dame 14. Bring on Oregon.
Now in his senior season as Stanford’s starting fullback and linebacker, Marecic has gained national attention as one of the few dominant two-way players in Division-I football. A biology and pre-medicine student, Marecic has all the right tools to disrupt any opposing game plan.
“Just a will, the indomitable will and a great work ethic,” Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said in his weekly sit-down with gostanford.com’s Bruce MacGowan. “He’s blessed with ability, strength, and quickness and a great mind to understand these complex defensive and offensive schemes.”
Marecic will experience a bit of a homecoming this Saturday when he and the Cardinal return to Autzen Stadium. A graduate of Jesuit High School in Portland, Marecic will be back in Oregon yet again to try and come away with his first-ever win in Eugene.
Oregon has taken seven of the last eight matchups between the two schools, the lone Stanford win coming last year in Stanford Stadium — Oregon’s only conference loss — by a count a 51-42. The headliner in that game, Toby Gerhart, has since departed to the NFL to play for the Minnesota Vikings. But through four games it appears Stanford hasn’t lost a beat offensively.
“We’ve got to stop the run,” Oregon senior linebacker Casey Matthews said. “Force them to pass a little more. Because if they have some success with the run it’ll make our (defensive backs) play closer, which we, we can’t have that.”
That combination of a lethal running game and timely passing attack was the winning recipe for the Cardinal last November. Stanford tallied 254 rushing yards (Gerhart accounted for 223 of those) on 52 attempts, while then-freshman quarterback Andrew Luck completed just 12 passes that went for 251 yards and two scores.
Eight of those receptions were split between wide receivers Chris Owusu (four for 111 yards) and Ryan Whalen (four for 72 yards), who both returned this season. In 2010, however, senior Doug Baldwin has stepped up as the team’s leading receiver, pulling in 12 catches for 222 yards and three scores.  
Stanford’s behemoth starting front line of junior Jonathan Martin (6-6, 304), senior Andrew Phillips (6-5, 302), senior Chase Beeler (6-3, 285), junior David DeCastro (6-5, 310) and senior Derek Hall (6-5, 305) has given up just one sack in 240 minutes of action this season.
Matthews still vividly remembers last years trip to Palo Alto and the imposing Stanford blocking scheme.
“It was one of the more physical games I’ve ever played in,” Matthews said. “It was just a bad feeling, but fortunately we recovered and won the rest.”
Stanford hopes to repeat its success from a year ago, but hasn’t faced an opposing crowd nearly as raucous as Autzen Stadium faithfuls.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be fun,” Luck said in the same interview with Harbaugh. “You know, this is definitely the game, I guess people say, why we play college football. For games like these in a tough atmosphere like its going to be. We’re very excited.”
[email protected]