It was a beautiful night for football in Palo Alto. 62 at kickoff and partly cloudy. It would be a battle. The coin toss went the way of Stanford who would start with the ball. Christian McCaffrey and Royce Freeman would be two of the key players to watch on Offense for the night and McCaffrey got the evening started.
Stanford would start with the ball and use Running Back Christian McCaffrey heavily on the first drive. He would carry the ball for 32 yards and help move the Cardinal down the field along with Kevin Hogan. A trick play would not go their way as the two swapped places and it was fourth down. The Cardinal would kick a field goal for a 3 point early lead on the Oregon Ducks.
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It would not take long for the Oregon Ducks to respond. On the second play from scrimmage, Freeman rolled for 49 yards. It was a series that did not include a passing play that saw Kani Benoit take it into the end zone to give the Ducks a 7-3 lead on the Cardinal. Matt Wogan would kick the ball into the end zone for the second time in the game limiting the Stanford return game and giving Stanford the ball at the 25 yard line for the start of the their second drive of the game.
Once again, the Cardinal would take their time working their way down the field eating up a ton of clock along the way. Kevin Hogan would take the ball himself 22 yards on third down to get to the end zone for the score giving the Cardinal a 10-7 lead. That would not last long.
One play is all it would take on Offense for Oregon and Charles Nelson to go 75 yards for a touchdown after playing Defense on the previous possession. In the first quarter the Oregon Ducks averaged over 20 yards per play for the game and the Stanford Cardinal were three for four on third down. Kevin Hogan and the Cardinal would get the ball as the second quarter began and went back to work.
November 14, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan (8) is tackled by Oregon Ducks linebacker Johnny Ragin III (28) during the first quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Hogan threw a pass to McCaffrey that bounced up in the air and found the hands of Rodney Hardrick for an Oregon interception putting the
Ducks back in business on Offense. The Ducks would not convert on the first third down they would face on the night. The drive also had the first Oregon pass play of the night. The ball went back to Stanford.
McCaffrey would get the ball to start the next drive and Oregon would be ready as he struggled to get back to the line of scrimmage. Stanford would go on an 8 play, 58 yard drive that would end in McCaffrey taking the ball into the end zone for a five yard touchdown run. Oregon Quarterback Vernon Adams had a total of one completed pass on the night. It would be a matter of time before he started to throw the ball around.
Vernon Adams would complete two passes, one for a first down, but the drive would come to an end with Stanford picking up the ball off the turf off a Vernon Adams fumble and Stanford’s Kevin Anderson picked up the ball and rumbling 51 yards setting up a first and goal from the nine yard line. McCaffrey would get two handoffs back to back and would go no where bringing up third and goal from the six. The Oregon Defense would break up a Kevin Hogan pass with Arrion Springs breaking it up and forcing a field goal attempt. Kicker Conrad Ukropina would hit it from 23 yards to give Stanford a 20-14 lead.
Adams would find Bralon Addison on for two catches on the drive that would lead to the end of the first half. A broken play would see Darren Carrington streaking toward the end zone for a touchdown giving the Ducks a 21-20 lead as the clock would tick down to halftime. Stanford would get the ball back with three timeouts and 41 seconds left on the clock. McCaffrey would get the ball to start the drive to pick up a first down with the clock ticking down to 25 seconds. A pass to McCaffrey was incomplete stopping the clock. With 7 seconds to go Head Coach David Shaw decided to go for it with Hogan and complete a first down giving Ukropina a chance to give the lead back to Stanford.
Ukropina would attempt a 49 yard field goal. The kick was good and gave the Cardinal a 23-21 lead into the locker room. Vernon Adams finished the first half a perfect 6 for 6 for 109 yards and a touchdown. Part of that 109 yards included the 12,000th yard of Adams college career. Oregon would get the ball to start the second half.
Oregon went right to work to start the second half burning less than two minutes off the clock as Royce Freeman would take it in from 21 yards out to give the Ducks a 28-23 lead. This was not a game where we would see overtime. It was clear with the score there would be a winner and a loser when the clock hit zero. Stanford would get the ball for the first time in the first half looking to answer.
Stanford would again look to a drive down the field with a mix of McCaffrey and Hogan who would pick up the Cardinal’s 9th first down in 11 tries on the possession. The 10th attempt would fall short as a Hogan run would not get there. Ukropina would attempt a 43 yard field goal that would be wide giving Oregon the ball back as the Defense would hold. Now there was an opportunity to get ahead of Stanford for Mark Helfrich and Company. Could they convert? The drive would start from their own 26 yard line.
The Cardinal would hold as Kevin Anderson came through in third and two forcing an Oregon Ducks punt –so the answer to my question. No. It appeared there was a broken play on third down that led to the punt. The Cardinal would get the ball back.
November 14, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey (5) runs the football against Oregon Ducks defensive lineman DeForest Buckner (44) during the first quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
A holding penalty on first down would make it 2nd and 18. Hogan would complete for a pass back to the original line of scrimmage for 3rd and 10. Hogan would be sacked by DeForest Buckner forcing a 4th down as the Oregon Defense rose to the occasion again. The Ducks would have 23 sacks in their last five games as Mark Helfrich would see his team get the ball back.
Kani Benoit was off to a good start with a 15 yard gain on first down. Taj Griffin would pick up two yards and a fifteen yard Defensive penalty for another first down. Griffin then broke a 49 yard pass play on the next play to give the Oregon Ducks a 35-23 lead on the 7th ranked team in the country.
Through three quarters, Oregon had 406 yards of Offense and 15 first downs on the night. Could they hold on against the Stanford Cardinal?
Stanford would work their way to first and goal and Kevin Hogan would find Stallworth for two passes to get inside the Oregon ten yard line. A wildcat play on first down would go for two yards. Second down would see Reggie Daniels stuffing McCaffrey and keeping him out of the end zone. It was third down for the Cardinal. Stanford would score a touchdown on third down to pull within five of Oregon at 35-30.
The Ducks would go no where as Adams would be sacked on third down giving the ball back to Stanford with a chance to take the lead, but Kevin Hogan would fumble the ball on the drive. The Oregon Ducks would recover with 7:16 left in the game.
Oregon would get right to work with Royce Freeman picking up a first down and it appeared as the Ducks were about to put the game away, but they would stall on third down. Aiden Schneider would come on to attempt a field goal to give the Ducks a 38-30 lead on the Cardinal. Stanford would again have a chance.
Matt Wogan would again put the ball in the end zone as Stanford would start at the 25 yard line. Stanford would carry his team down the field in big chunks of 17 yards and 17 yards to start. He would hit McCaffrey for an 18 yard gain to get to the Oregon 23 yard line. On the next snap McCaffrey would get to the Oregon 15 yard line with 3:08 left in the game. Kevin Hogan would again drop the ball and Oregon would recover.
Again, the Ducks could not finish and Stanford would get the ball back with 1:17 left in the fourth quarter. Kevin Hogan would have another chance. Ian Wheeler would punt out of his own end zone and Devon Allen would take down McCaffrey at the 50 yard line for what could be the Special Teams play of the game for the Oregon Ducks.
With 48 seconds left the playmaker for Stanford was McCaffrey and everyone on the Oregon Defense knew the ball was going his way. Kevin Hogan would find himself with two incomplete passes on first and second down. On third down he would complete the pass for a first down as the clock ticked down to 28 seconds. Oregon found themselves in this situation against Washington State last month. Could they hold on the road?
Hogan would throw the ball away on second down with 19 seconds to go. Oregon would be called for pass interference giving the ball to Stanford for a first and goal with 14 seconds to go. Stanford would score following a Defensive penalty with 10 seconds left. The Cardinal would have to go for two points to tie the game. Oregon would hold off the two point conversion and hold on for a 38-36 upset of Stanford on the road.
Helfrich to Ducks: "I'm so friggin' proud of your effort. That's a damn good football team we just beat." #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/869sDmHYJ7
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) November 15, 2015
Oregon played with heart and left everything on the field on Defense. Don Pellum had his guys ready this week to knock out Stanford. It was the Ducks first win on the Farm since 2011. They have reeled off four wins in a row and will face the USC Trojans next weekend at Autzen Stadium.