The Stanford Cardinal's massive road upset of the then-#6 USC Trojans has us thinking -- why exactly wouldn't we pick them to take down current Pac-12 power Oregon at home in late November? We can't answer that question honestly, so here's 4 Reasons Why Stanford Is Guaranteed To Beat Oregon This Year.
1. Power Rushing Attack
Oregon has proven vulnerable in the heart of their front seven -- a perfect storm for Christian McCaffrey to gash them up the middle and help Stanford control the clock. If you can neutralize Oregon's athletic advantage by limiting edge plays and causing their bigs up front to tire out, you can beat them.
2. Oregon's Overall Defensive Problems
It's not just the Ducks' front seven which has been having problems over the first few weeks of the college football season. It's the entire defense which has been gashed by both top-tier competition (Michigan State) and lesser teams (Eastern Washington, Georgia State). If Stanford's upset of USC in any indication, the Cardinal will be able to exploit those deficiencies early and often.
3. Stanford's Clutch D
The Cardinal defense wasn't perfect against USC, but they cinched things up late to push the Trojans out of things on their home turf. The defense should be even more fluid and in tune when November 14th rolls around -- a fact that almost guarantees a rock solid performance and gap-assignment discipline by the Cardinal.
4. Home-Field Advantage
Stanford fans get up for Oregon week big time. It's going to be a raucous atmosphere which may very well shake up first-year FBS quarterback Vernon Adams. We'll take the uber-experience Kevin Hogan at home over a relatively unproven commodity on the road.
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