Stanford Runs Over Oregon Ducks, McCaffrey Leads Ground Attack
The Stanford Cardinal had their way through the Oregon Defense in a 52-27 win.
It was Senior Day at Autzen Stadium as the Oregon Ducks met the Stanford Cardinal. Both teams have had a season where expectations have fallen short, but one team would take advantage on Saturday. The Ducks needed the win more. Winning out for Oregon may mean a bowl game, but one loss in the last three means the season coming to an end after the Civil War against Oregon State.
Oregon won the coin toss and would receive the opening kickoff.
The Ducks started the game with two unsuccessful runs from Royce Freeman and an incomplete pass to Senior Pharoah Brown forcing a punt. The Oregon Defense forced a Stanford punt with a big stop, but the Ducks Offense stalled at the 31 giving the ball back to Stanford after an incomplete pass on 4th Down.
The Defensive stop for Oregon was short lived. Christian McCaffrey quickly made it 6-0 Stanford on a 61-yard touchdown run down the right side untouched. Stanford has not lost a game when McCaffrey has hit the 100 yard mark. He was already over half way there with one play and 9:12 left in the first quarter.
Quarterback Justin Herbert fumbled and Stanford recovered. Christian McCaffrey scored his second touchdown of the game five plays later to make it 14-0 Cardinal. Stanford would score again before the end of the first quarter on a third and 14. A 61 yard strike from Keller Chryst to JJ Whiteside gave Stanford a 21-0 lead on Oregon.
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Johnny Mundt put the Ducks on the board before the end of the quarter with a touchdown pass from Justin Herbert. Oregon would go for two and miss making it 21-6 Stanford. Troy Dye would make a Defensive Statement before the end of the first quarter that sent a shudder through Autzen Stadium on a blindside tackle that was felt from the Press Box. Stanford added a field goal to make it 24-6 on the drive.
Oregon has a solid drive that used numerous receivers and running backs and had promise come to an end with a penalty followed by a ball intercepted in the endzone by Stanford. The Cardinal would take the ball 80 yards for a touchdown. Kryst threw the ball to the pilon for Michael Rector. It followed two timeouts, one by Oregon after having too many players on the field in what appeared to be confusion with the number of Defensive players on the field. Stanford still scored to make it 31-6.
Running Back Royce Freeman made some noise on the next drive with a 37 yard run and a 3 yard score to make it 31-13 Stanford. It was a confidence building drive for Freeman and his longest run in his last three games for Oregon.
Christian McCaffrey would add his third touchdown before halftime taking it in from 14 yards out to put Stanford up 38-13 on the Oregon Ducks.
The last series of the first half saw Justin Herbert sacked on third down with 12 seconds left. The Ducks had a chance for a score, but let time run down without running a play ending on a missed field goal by Aiden Schneider.
The Oregon Defense picked up a stop to start the third quarter, but a Special Teams error gave the ball back to Stanford inside the Ducks 40. They turned it into a touchdown to add to their total, 45-13.
Oregon would again try to work their way back, but Justin Herbert was intercepted again in the endzone under throwing the ball to Tight End Johnny Mundt. Stanford took over at the 20. Stanford added another score before the end of the third quarter, 52-13.
In the end the Oregon Ducks fell 52-27 and fell out of bowl eligibiity for the season. Running Back Royce Freeman cracked the 100 yard mark for the first time in over a month with 111 yards on the day. There are two games left on the schedule, both on the road against Utah and Oregon State.
Kickoff time for the game against Utah will be announced early on Sunday, November 13th.