Oregon Football: Ducks could be on upset alert vs. Stanford in Week 5

Over the last decade, Stanford and Oregon football have split their long-standing series at five games apiece. There have been some memorable battles between these two Pac-12 rivals. The field goal clank around the world from 2012, which was a 17-14 loss for the Ducks in the end. Throw in a lopsided loss and lopsided win or two as well as an overtime loss in 2018 in Eugene.

Paper players will say that Oregon will win this game, or should win this game, but games are not played on paper. The field this time around is The Farm and while Oregon football sits high in the polls and is primed for a national title run in the fifth week of the season, you better believe the target is big. Every team the rest of the season will give the Ducks their best shot.

The Stanford Cardinal have a quarterback who through four games has completed 67 percent of his passes, has thrown for nine touchdowns and no interceptions. Tanner McKee took some time for an LDS mission but is now back to football. He comes from the same class as Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields and clearly the talent is there. Despite the loss last weekend, he threw for close to 300 yards and three touchdowns versus UCLA.

The Cardinal defense gave up some big plays down the stretch not allowing for the chance of a road comeback.

Over the first four games of the season, Oregon Football has been consistent. Their offense is not a juggernaut, nor does it appear high-powered. The Ducks have fallen into the caveat of playing down to their opponent as well causing their own headache with some outright boneheaded penalties. They have had the second half to pull away and put away the competition — so far.

Road games in the Pac-12 Conference are different. Despite the 2-2 record, Stanford is not a bad football team. They also have one of the better head coaches in the country, in my opinion, in David Shaw who has seen his share of success and defeat against the Ducks. The Cardinal this season are less ground and pound and appear to be throwing the ball more.

They have a three-player rotation at running back. Nathaniel Peat has shown he can lead. So far he has over 200 yards on the ground in 2021, including an 87-yard run from scrimmage against USC last weekend.

Oregon and Stanford face off on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET. The game will be on ABC.