Oregon Ducks Football: 3 Things We Learned Against Stanford

The #2 Oregon Ducks lost to the #13 Stanford Cardinals tonight 17-14 in overtime at Autzen Stadium.  The Ducks fall to 10-1, 7-1 in the Pac-12.  The Stanford Cardinals improve to 9-2, 7-1 in the Pac-12.  The Ducks will end their regular season next week in Corvallis to take on Oregon State.

James Snook-US PRESSWIRE

The Ducks have lost their ability to play in the National Championship Game.  Kansas State lost to Baylor while Notre Dame shut out Wake Forest.  Notre Dame is the lone undefeated team in the country and will take over the top spot in the BCS.  There are now a bunch of one-loss teams in the country and an SEC team will probably jump into the second spot.

The Oregon offense struggled all night failing to score a point in the first quarter for the first time all season.  They were held to touchdowns in the second and third quarters and had less total offense than Stanford in this game.  Marcus Mariota completed 22 of 38 passes for 212 yards with one touchdown and one pick.  Mariota and Josh Huff had a big miscommunication on a third-down pass in the OT where Huff cut his route inside and Mariota threw it outside.

Kenjon Barner was held to 66 yards on 21 carries.  Barner had 65 yards last week in the win over California but hasn’t seen the rooming room he’s normally had all year.  The team overall only converted on 4 of 17 third-down attempts and failed on both fourth-down tries.  They just couldn’t get into rhythm thanks in part to the Stanford defense which was in the backfield the majority of the night.

The defense played very well in spite of giving up 411 yards.  They forced three turnovers on the night including two fumbles in the third quarter.  The first gave the offense the ball at the Stanford 39-yard line but Alejandro Maldonado missed a 42-yard field goal.  Ifo Ekpre-Olomu forced a fumble by sure-handed Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor later in the quarter at the Oregon 38-yard line.

If Stanford beats UCLA next weekend, the Cardinal will win the Pac-12 North as they now hold the tiebreaker over the Ducks.

Check out Raymond Mencke’s blog at www.sportissue.com. Also follow him on Twitter @RaymondMenckeJr,

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