Oregon football: Bitter rivalry may be ending for Ducks in big road test
Oregon and Stanford. Two teams that, at least for me and probably many other Oregon football fans, have had one of the biggest rivalries over the last eleven years. The Cardinal have won six of those games against Oregon, both on the Farm and also inside Autzen Stadium.
With the Pac-12 Conference down to two schools and Stanford and California headed to the ACC next season, this important and historic rivalry is coming to an end this weekend. T
his matchup is among the first of the dominoes to fall as the Pac-12 football season gets going. Both teams have seen each other on the schedule for the better part of over 120 years with their first meeting going back to 1900.
The most recent rendition of the Stanford Cardinal has been more of a ground-and-pound team, similar to the Big Ten teams of old. David Shaw is gone.
Troy Taylor was named head coach last December and so far in his first season, the Cardinal are 1-3 with the lone victory coming against Hawaii. The Cardinal have a three-game losing streak entering this week with losses vs. Pac-12 foes USC and Arizona and a loss to Sacramento State.
Stanford is putting up just 22 points per game and has seen both of their quarterbacks take the field. The combined completion percentage for Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson is just over 52 percent this season. The ground game has had better success with the team putting up better than 150 yards per game in three of their games this season. Stanford has six touchdowns on the ground in that span.
Statistically, the Ducks are led by Quarterback Bo Nix who is a Heisman Trophy Candidate who has thrown for 11 touchdowns and an interception and is hitting close to 80 percent of his passes this season. Nix is also the most experienced signal caller in all of college football with 51 career starts. The record is 53.
The Oregon run game enters the Farm with a potent offensive statistic. The Ducks lead the nation with 6.98 yards per rush this season with Bucky Irving leading the way with 8.24 yards per carry.
Oregon and Stanford meet on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network.
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