The wait is over. Nov. 7 has finally arrived.
Tonight, the No. 5 Cardinal (7-1, 5-1 Pac-12) will once again be an underdog against the high-flying No. 3 Ducks (8-0, 5-0) on its own turf, but this time, the stakes are higher, the lights brighter. The two Pac-12 heavyweights will look to keep their conference and national title hopes alive as they collide at Stanford Stadium, tonight’s epicenter of college football nation.
“The campus is excited,” said senior safety Ed Reynolds. “They realize what this game means to the program and school.”
The BCS implications surrounding the game are obvious, but plenty of storylines fuel the hype. The loser of the last three contests between the two teams would have most likely gone to the national championship had it not lost. And while the Ducks have won nine of the last 11 meetings — they’ve scored at least 50 points in four of the last six meetings — it was Stanford who used one of the best defensive performances in college football history to derail Oregon’s national title aspirations last season.
“I wouldn’t say that we found the key to unlock [Oregon’s] offense,” said head coach David Shaw. “We played really well. It’s not just scheme. You got tremendous effort from really good players, guys who played hard and well together. That’s what it takes.”
If the Cardinal wants to repeat its epic defensive performance — and disprove running back De’Anthony Thomas’ assertion that Oregon should score at least 40 points — it will have to contain quarterback Marcus Mariota for the second year in a row. The Heisman Trophy frontrunner, Mariota has completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,281 yards and 20 touchdowns and boasts an adjusted quarterback rating of 94.9. The junior star has yet to throw an interception in his eight games this season, something that sophomore cornerback Alex Carter said the Cardinal defense needs to change.
“[Mariota] has such a calm about him, even when he’s getting pressured. He’s just a more mature version of the really good quarterback [he was] last year,” Shaw said. “The closest guy to him I’ve seen is [49ers quarterback] Colin Kaepernick: so big, so fast, so athletic, so in command.”
The warp-speed Ducks offense as a whole hasn’t skipped a beat either. Under first-year head coach Mark Helfrich, Oregon is ranked second in the nation in scoring offense (55.6 points per game), total offense (632.1 yards per game) and rushing offense (331.50 yards per game). Running backs Byron Marshall and Thomas have picked up right where Kenjon Barner left off last year, while the speedy wide receiver tandem of Josh Huff and Bralon Addison has allowed Oregon to have a greater downfield passing threat this year.
On the heels of two dominant showings against explosive UCLA and Oregon State offenses, the Cardinal defense understands the tall order it faces against the lightening-paced Ducks. But the unit enters tonight’s game with a similar mentality that it took into Autzen Stadium last year: Take Oregon into the fourth quarter.
“[Defensive coordinator Derek] Mason put great emphasis on taking [Oregon] into deep water,” Reynolds said. “You’re not going to be able to beat this team if you don’t take them into the fourth quarter. For us, it’s about making sure we play sound defensive football to where we can help the [Stanford] offense out, give them as many possessions as we can and put them in short fields.”
The Cardinal offense will need plenty of help tonight if it plays the way it did in the month of October. Against Oregon State two weekends ago, the inconsistent offense was unable to sustain drives and was out-possessed by the Beavers by nearly 17 minutes in spite of the fact that the Cardinal prides itself on controlling the clock.
The best unit that Stanford’s offense has faced all season, the Ducks defense leads the Pac-12 in points per game (16.9) and yards per play (3.31). Senior running back Tyler Gaffney will be looking for his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the year, but it won’t be easy against a physical Ducks front that features the 6-foot-8, 296-pound defensive tackle Arik Armstead. Meanwhile, junior quarterback Kevin Hogan will have to play much better than his 88-yard performance in his last game to give his team a chance at pulling off the upset, against one of the best secondary units in the nation led by cornerback Ifo Ikpre-Olomu.
“The one guy that, in my opinion, stands out is the defensive coordinator,” Shaw said. “Nobody talks about Nick Aliotti. You talk about [Oregon’s] offense and the points, but they can’t do what they do if the defense doesn’t play the way the defense plays.”
On the injury front, senior defensive end Henry Anderson, senior kicker Jordan Williamson and junior wide receiver Devon Cajuste are all expected to play in some capacity.
Stanford and Oregon battle for Pac-12 North supremacy tonight, with kickoff slated for 6 p.m. and national television coverage on ESPN.
Contact George Chen at gchen15 ‘at’ stanford.edu.