The #7 Stanford Cardinal's ascent into the College Football Playoff picture started with a massive top-ten road upset of USC some weeks back. It's somewhat ironic that their CFP hopes appear to have been dashed in a similar manner on their own home turf.
The Oregon Ducks' offense looked like that of the title contender U of O was pegged to be this year, and the defense did barely enough under the gun to hold back Stanford, tightening up in the secondary to deny a tying two-point conversion and salt away a season-defining 38-36 win.
Leading 38-30 with just over a minute left, Oregon's defense almost gave things away after a punt, allowing two first down passes before being pushed back all the way to its own nine thanks to a controversial pass interference call. They made even harder than themselves, getting docked for 12 men on the field prior to the next play before getting dissected by Stanford QB Kevin Hogan on a four-yard TD pass to Greg Taboada with just seconds left
However, Oregon's secondary would save the day from there, breaking up Hogan's rollout pass on the two-point conversion attempt and securing a two-point win.
Oregon withstood another breakthrough performance by Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey (249 all-purpose yards, 1 TD), using a balanced offense and three takeaways to keep just enough distance from the Cardinal down the stretch.
Ducks QB Vernon Adams threw just 12 times on Saturday night, but he completed 10 of those for 205 yards and two key scores. Together with RB Royce Freeman's 100-yard day on the ground, Oregon's offense held its own and kept itself from making some of the critical mistakes which have plagued them at times this season.
Stanford's second loss snapped an eight-game winning streak and essentially knocks them out of the College Football Playoff picture for good. Oregon moves to 7-3, strengthening their case for a higher tier bowl game and keeping their hopes alive for a Pac-12 North title.
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