The eight-year-old assigned to fetch the tee after Oregon kickoffs had a busier night than the Stanford run game that accumulated just 127 yards all night.
The 135 penalty yards the Ducks collected almost seemed to not matter as Dan Lanning’s defense was on full display. The final score of 45-27 simply doesn’t do justice to how in-control of this game Oregon was. The Ducks walked over the Cardinal through the first three quarters, the fourth becoming more of a glorified scrimmage.
“There’s a lot of positives we can take away from this game,” Lanning said. “But also a lot of moments of growth. We’re trying to be the best version of us and we’re not quite there yet.”
Neither is Stanford.
A fourth quarter punt —while down 28 — seemed to represent a white flag from a battle that never happened.
In fact, the most “fight” the Cardinal — losers now of nine straight Pac-12 conference contests — showed in Saturday’s smackdown was the sideline squabble late in the first half that saw Seven McGee thrown out of the game.
The calm Eugene night got louder with each stop the Oregon defense made. The Cardinal offense had seven drives in the first half, seven chances to strike a Ducks’ defense missing linebacker Justin Flowe. Instead, Oregon forced four three-and-outs and a fumble setting up a touchdown while allowing just a field goal and 102 yards.
“The coaches did a good job of preparing us,” Oregon linebacker Barndon Dorlus said. “With everything we had practiced for today, it was like taking an open book test.”
Through 30 minutes of play, the Duck had more push-ups (85) than Stanford had yards passing (57) or rushing (45).
The beloved Oregon mascot was unavailable for question after his tiring night.
Even when the offense stalled, the defense held strong. Quarterback Bo Nix, who was just 16-of-29 for 161 yards, was relieved by backup Ty Thompson early in the fourth quarter.
A sudden burst of desperation and a handful of late garbage time scoring drives that Stanford was able to string together, after both starting quarterbacks had exited the game, still failed to bring the Cardinal within two scores of the Ducks at any point in the second half. It made the game feel closer than it ever was, but it should have never even been that competitive. The Ducks’ mistakes seemed a more daunting opponent than anything Stanford had to show. Oregon had 45 points, and it easily could have scored 60.
Oregon wide receiver Chase Cota explained that the team describes Sunday and Monday’s practices like going to the doctor. “Yeah we won,” Cota said. “But it’s not going to be that fun on Monday. There were so many mistakes.”
As has become an unimpressive tradition at Autzen Stadium, the student section cleared out after “Shout.” The Cardinal offense, it seemed, had never even arrived.
Riding the rushing game, Oregon cruised to victory. The 351 ground yards the Ducks accumulated, almost 10 per carry, even outweigh the 332 total yards that Stanford had to show and just 237 through the first three quarters.
Entering Saturday’s contest, 364 days had passed since Stanford’s last conference victory. A win over No. 3 Oregon. Almost a full year later, the Ducks struck back in a big way, handing the Cardinal their third blowout loss in a row.
The pregame “Come to Oregon” chants from students to recruits should resound louder and grow more tempting with each win Lanning’s new squad collects.
