PALO ALTO — Tyler Gaffney had 45 carries for 157 yards as the No.6 Stanford Cardinal dominated the No.2 Oregon Ducks for three quarters, then held off a ferocious Oregon comeback to secure a 26-20 victory.
For the second straight year, Stanford dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The physicality and size of Stanford’s offensive and defensive line clearly bothered their lighter and fleetier Oregon counterparts from Eugene. Stanford slowed the game down keeping the ball away from Oregon’s high-powered offense. The Cardinal offense held the ball for 42 minutes while relying on Gaffney to carry the majority of the load.
Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan played a mistake free game completing 7 of his 13 passes. The Cardinal were set to ice the game with a 40 yard field goal pushing the score to 29 – 6, but the kicked was blocked and returned for a touchdown leaving 5:08 left to complete the comeback. Oregon then recorded an onside kick. Oregon’s Heisman hopeful in quarterback Marcus Mariota, led the Ducks down the field to the five then was pushed back to the fourteen.
Mariota then threw a fourteen-yard touchdown pass to Pharaoh Brown with 2:18 remaining. Stanford recovered the next onside kick and they were able to run out the clock
seal the hard-fought win. This win knocks Oregon out of the PAC-12 title game unless Stanford slips up, and shows that the Cardinal can compete with the best teams in the nation while helping secure a BCS Bowl bid.
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No. 2 Oregon stifled by No. 6 Stanford, 26-20
