Stanford fans could probably use a bit of an emotional break after the Cardinal experienced yet another disappointing loss last weekend. But such a break is unlikely to occur as the Cardinal return home to face Oregon State on Saturday.

Few Pac-12 North teams have managed to cause trouble for Stanford as consistently as the Beavers have. Oregon State is frequently better than its ranking, and has almost always figured out a way to make things interesting against the Cardinal.

Let’s take a look at a few of the most recent matchups to see how this classic series has played out:

2011: Luck had everything to do with it

Three years ago, No. 4 Stanford swept through Corvallis in style behind the incredible arm of Andrew Luck.

The Heisman contender did it all for the Cardinal as they preserved their undefeated record with a 38-13 victory. Luck threw for 206 yards, completed touchdown passes to three different receivers and even managed to rush for 28 yards on four attempts.

The Beavers did draw within four at the beginning of the second half after a 42-yard pass from OSU freshman Sean Mannion. But ultimately, their defense just could not put a damper on Luck, who quickly followed Mannion’s heroics with two touchdown passes of his own. The Cardinal never looked back from there and before long, the game had lost all of its drama.

Stanford struggled after this victory, going just 2-2 in its remaining games and losing unglamorously to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. Still, Luck’s impressive performance against Oregon State helped show the world what he could do. When he left the Farm at the end of the season, Stanford’s contests against the Beavers started to get a whole lot more interesting.

2012: Hogan wins over fans’ hearts in first start

Just a year after it had pummeled OSU, Stanford’s offense was struggling and searching for answers, and many of the difficult challenges on the Cardinal’s schedule still lay ahead.

An intriguing solution had emerged, however, in the play of backup quarterback Kevin Hogan. The sophomore completed 18 of his 23 passes against Colorado the week prior after coming in for Josh Nunes, and he had then earned the starting job for himself as the No. 16 Cardinal prepared to take on No. 13 Oregon State.

Hogan managed to impress the crowd in Stanford Stadium early on, running and passing the ball downfield to give the Cardinal a 14-point lead at the end of the first quarter. Oregon State had also found a new gunslinger in junior Cody Vaz, however, and he responded strongly as Oregon State scored 23 unanswered points to retake the lead. The Cardinal offense’s impressive start had given way to shakiness, with a fumble, an interception and a missed field goal all giving the Beavers plenty of chances to put points on the board.

Facing the possibility of yet another close loss, Stanford turned back to what it did best. As time expired at the end of the third quarter, Hogan dumped the ball off to veteran running back Stepfan Taylor, and the senior ran around everyone in the OSU secondary for an impressive 40 yard catch-and-run touchdown. The Stanford defense then forced a crucial fumble to set up its offense well into OSU territory, and Hogan found tight end Zach Ertz deep in the end zone to put the Cardinal back on top with 5:07 remaining in regulation.

Vaz’s momentum had run out, and Stanford held on for a 27-23 win. Hogan had been far from flawless, but his 254 yards through the air and 49 on the ground were enough to convince head coach David Shaw to hand him the baton going forward.

2013: Reynolds says no to OSU comeback

By the time the next year’s competition rolled around, Hogan had bolstered his resume considerably with a win against Oregon in Eugene and a victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Still, Oregon State suddenly appeared to have the upper hand in the passing game.

Sean Mannion had risen, incredibly, to become the nation’s leader in passing yards and touchdowns, and OSU wide receiver Brandin Cooks had paced the nation in receptions. Stanford, meanwhile, had been struggling away from home and was just two weeks removed from an embarrassing loss at unranked Utah.

However, it was the defenses that stole most of the headlines for the day. Hogan managed just eight completions in the entire game, and Mannion was held almost 250 passing yards below his average. The Beavers turned the ball over on downs three times inside the Stanford 35-yard line, and both teams missed an extra point.

Stanford maintained a narrow lead for the entire game, but in the fourth quarter, a Stanford three-and-out gave Oregon State one last chance to draw even. A series of completions to Cooks gave Mannion the ball at the Stanford 7 with just enough time remaining for him to take four shots at a game-tying touchdown and conversion.

The Stanford secondary stopped the first three. In his one last attempt, Mannion delivered the ball to a reasonably open Kevin Cummings. For a second, terror struck Stanford fans. Then, Cardinal safety Ed Reynolds came out of nowhere to knock the ball away. Stanford had quite literally pulled the game out of Oregon State’s hands, and came away with a crucial 20-12 win en route to clinching a berth in the 100th Rose Bowl.

Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu.