There’s a familiar tale being weaved in the late season matchup that is Stanford versus Oregon. Down at The Farm on Saturday, a top-10 team — equipped with an explosive Heisman Trophy candidate — looking towards the College Football Playoff, will face off against an upstart underdog, attempting to ruin any chance of a National Championship appearance for its conference rival.
In 2012, a redshirt freshman quarterback named Kevin Hogan led No. 13 Stanford past undefeated, No. 2 Oregon, 17-14, in a mid-November matchup.
In 2013, it was Marcus Mariota and the No. 2 Oregon Ducks with hopes of a national championship against No. 5 Stanford. The Cardinal derailed those dreams, once again, with a 26-20 victory.
This year, the script is flipped.
No. 7 Stanford is 8-1, has a Heisman candidate in Christian McCaffrey and is eying one of the four coveted spots in the playoff. The Cardinal’s only loss of the season came in week one against Northwestern. Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich called it a “major anomaly,” saying there was no magic formula to stopping Stanford after watching the film.
The Ducks, at 6-3 after a three-game winning streak, have the chance to do what their counterpart did to them twice over the last three years. Currently, Oregon opens up as an eight-and-a-half-point underdog against Stanford. It’s a role the team will have to adjust to.
“I know the kids are really excited to play this one,” Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost said. “It’s kind of neat that we’re going in as the underdog and the spoiler. And that’s a role our guys aren’t used to playing.”
“A modern day Gladiator fight”
There’s one member of Oregon who’s played the role of underdog against the Cardinal before. Two years ago, Matt Hegarty was in South Bend, Indiana, playing center for Notre Dame. And three weeks after Oregon’s loss to Stanford, Hegarty was down in Palo Alto, as No. 25 Notre Dame took on No. 8 Stanford. The Fighting Irish lost, 27-20.
Like Oregon, the matchup between Notre Dame and Stanford is a yearly routine. Hegarty remembers close games against the Cardinal.
“You’re sore the next day, that’s for sure,” Hegarty said. “They come ready to smack heads.”
Hegarty’s soreness the day after was a testament to Stanford’s simple mentality of trying to “out-physical and out-muscle” its opponents.
“It’s a modern day Gladiator fight,” Hegarty said.
Though Hegarty’s perspective is limited to what the Stanford defensive line has shown him over the past couple of years, he says their tough mentality can be seen throughout all phases of the Stanford team.
“On offense, they’re going to run it down your throat and they tell you, ‘We’re going to run it right here,’ ” Oregon defensive lineman DeForest Buckner said.
Buckner says he looks at Stanford’s confidence in the run game as a challenge. For a field filled with 22 players, the simplicity of the Cardinal’s offensive game plan, in year’s past, required toughness in one-on-one match-ups.
“It’s mano a mano, you and another guy — sometimes two other guys,” he said. “But yeah, this whole game is pretty much about toughness and pride.
“I’m not going to let another guy say he’s going to kick my behind and run it down our throat.”
“Wild Caff”
One thing Stanford didn’t have in its offensive arsenal two years ago was a Heisman Trophy offensive weapon, or, as ESPN’s Ivan Maisel calls Cardinal star Christian McCaffrey, something that “had been designed two miles down the road from the Stanford campus, in Elon Musk’s dream factory. Like a Tesla, McCaffrey runs fast, turns at top speed, and doesn’t make a sound.”
On Tuesday, the Stanford athletic department launched a site, promoting its “Wild Caff” for the same award Mariota won a year ago. When you open the site, McCaffrey’s numbers roll up faster than dollars at a gas pump: 2,174 all-purpose yards, 1,207 rushing yards and 325 receiving yards.
Helfrich called McCaffrey phenomenal, lauding McCaffrey’s versatility. Helfrich said McCaffrey’s playmaking ability, along with others on the Stanford offense, adds to an experienced group that Oregon is used to facing up front.
“I think he should take a week off,” Helfrich joked when asked how he plans to stop him. “Keep him healthy for the stretch run.”
“He’s still there, God Almighty” 
After Oregon’s 44-28 win over Cal last Saturday, defensive backs coach John Neal acknowledged who his team is going up against this weekend.
“I know it’s Stanford, I know how good they are,” Neal said. “[Kevin] Hogan is still there, he’s 100 years old.
“He’s still there, God Almighty.”
While the roles between Stanford and Oregon may have switched coming into Saturday, the presence of Hogan under center for the Cardinal hasn’t. Hogan, Stanford’s fifth-year senior starting quarterback, is making his fourth start against Oregon after going 2-1 against the Ducks in his previous three games.
“Hogan is a seasoned, senior quarterback in this conference,” Oregon defensive coordinator Don Pellum said. “He’s seen it all.”
In 2012, Hogan, inserted as the Cardinal’s starting quarterback after Josh Nunes was injured a week before, went into Autzen Stadium and beat the undefeated (10-0), No. 2 ranked Ducks, 17-14, in his first career road start.
“Kevin Hogan,” Buckner said, “he always has a great game against us. He can throw when he has time, and he can hurt you with his feet. A lot of times, guys don’t think that he can hurt you with his feet, but he definitely can.”
At 6-foot-4, 218 pounds, Hogan has cemented himself as a threat to run this season. In a 30-28 victory over Washington State on Oct. 31, Hogan out-rushed McCaffrey, 112 to 107 yards.
“They’re our biggest game, our biggest rival – whatever you want to call it”
Though an underdog in this year’s game against Stanford, with no National Championship in sight this time, Oregon is still playing for something. The Ducks are currently No. 2 in the Pac-12 North behind Stanford.
Oregon needs to win out, and hope Stanford picks up another conference loss, to represent the North in the Pac-12 Championship game.
“They are our game this week, so they’re our biggest game, our biggest rival – whatever you want to call it,” Oregon wide receiver Dwayne Stanford said. “For us to get where we want to go, we have to win out. This is the next step on that ladder.”
 
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt.