When asked by reporters to describe the versatile Stanford offensive attack, cornerback Anthony Gildon summed it up by explaining, “You never know what you’re going to get.”
As it turns out, Gildon’s description also proves apt at predicting the outcome of Saturday’s matchup between No. 9 Stanford (4-0) and No. 4 Oregon (4-0). Bloggers and pundits may come up with their own projections, but the truth is, no one knows quite how this game will turn out.  
What Chip Kelly and the Ducks do know, however, is that Stanford may provide the toughest competition they face all season.
“(Stanford’s) got quality depth on both sides of the ball,” Kelly said. “(They are) really well coached, and they’re a good special teams team, that’s why they’re a top-10-ranked team coming in.”
Indeed, a quick look at the numbers backs up Kelly’s description. The Cardinal ranks fourth in the nation in points per game (48.0) and 24th in total offense (457.50 yards per game). Stanford’s attack is evenly divided between the run and pass, as the team averages 223.3 rushing yards per game to go along with 234.3 passing yards.
Priority number one for head coach Jim Harbaugh and his offense, however, is the running game.
“Stanford’s a run first team,” Gildon said. “So they like to establish the run and then hit you with play action fakes over the top. So we’ve gotta stop the run and we’ve gotta stop the pass.”
Stanford’s statistics on defense may be even more impressive. The Cardinal gives up just 13.8 points per game, and ranks 11th in the nation in total defense (256 yards per game). Against a squad that allows just 144.25 passing yards per game, Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas knows that he has his work cut out for him.
“It’s going to be a competitive game,” Thomas said. “I think it’s the hardest game we’ve played this year, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
One thing the Ducks will not lack on Saturday will be motivation. No one has forgotten the 51-42 beating the Cardinal put on Oregon last season in Palo Alto, and revenge will be on the mind come Saturday night.
“We’ve just got to make sure we come out better prepared that we were last year,” defensive tackle Brandon Bair said. “Because they wanted to win it more than us then. So this year is a whole new year.”
Led by All-American running back Toby Gerhart, Stanford racked up 254 rushing yards in last year’s matchup. Gerhart may have departed for the NFL, but the Cardinal still clogs the line with up to seven offensive linemen looking to pound opponents on the ground.
“We knew they were a six offensive linemen, seven offensive linemen scheme last year going into the game,” Kelly said. “We just need to do a better job getting lined up and tackling … We didn’t do a good job of tackling against them last year and that’s going to be the key.”
Bair echoed Kelly’s sentiments, and sounded confident that this year’s story will be quite different.
“We’ll handle whatever comes our way,” Bair said. “Seven offensive linemen, five, two, I don’t care what they put up there, we’ll get ready for it, we’ll handle it.”
Of course, the running game is far from the only thing the defense has to worry about. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Andrew Luck has quickly emerged as one of the top passers in the country, and could be the difference maker on Saturday.
“I think he’s one of the smarter quarterbacks we’ve ever faced,” Kelly said. “Because he’s got a great understanding of what they’re doing … He’s the total package.”
As one of the cornerbacks charged with stopping Luck, Gildon was effusive in his praise.
“He can make all the throws, and he’s a smart player,” Gildon said. “So you’ve gotta account for that, and he can run, so he can basically do it all.”
Tight ends have also proven to be key weapons in Stanford’s attack, as Gildon discovered while watching film.
“One thing about Stanford is they run a lot of tight ends,” Gildon said. “So they get a lot of max protect … The receivers get a lot of time to run routes, but they run really nice routes, and they’ve got some good speed on them.”
The Oregon defense will have to rely on varying schemes designed to fluster Luck. Whether they work or not will not be known until Saturday.   
“We’ll see, won’t we?” Gildon said.
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