The game plan for Stanford coming into this game was simple: the Cardinal needed to control the clock and dominate Oregon up front to have any shot of keeping it close, to say nothing of actually beating the 3rd-ranked Ducks. That’s exactly what the Stanford did when they beat Oregon 17-14 last year, but few thought the Cardinal were well-suited to repeat the performance. And yet, through two quarters of play, David Shaw’s squad is somehow outdoing last year’s stunning performance.
Stanford has Oregon on upset alert at halftime
With a 7-0 lead entering the second quarter, the Cardinal benefitted from a questionable pass interference call that put them deep in Duck territory. From there, Kevin Hogan showed unexpected speed getting into the end zone on an 11-yard zone-read keeper.
Oregon looked like it was going to answer with a touchdown of its own, but Stanford’s star linebacker Shayne Skov stripped De’Anthony Thomas on the Stanford 11-yard line. From there, the Cardinal marched down the field and ran out the final 8:26 of game clock on an incredibly long 19-play drive to end the half.
Stanford nearly ran out too much clock, letting the clock hit zero on a failed pass into the end zone. But another pass interference penalty on Oregon bailed Stanford out. The Cardinal got an extra opportunity to score, electing to knock through a chip shot field goal and take a 17-0 lead into the half.
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