5 potential college football upsets on the horizon
By Stu White
Oregon Ducks at Stanford Cardinal
Date: Saturday, Nov. 14
There would be some poetic justice in the Oregon Ducks ruining Stanford’s playoff aspirations. Two times in the Chip Kelly era — 2009 and 2012 — the Cardinal knocked off the favored Ducks, sparking a fledgling rivalry between the Pac-12 Conference’s ascendant programs.
Could the Ducks, who stumbled through the first part of Pac-12 play this season, play spoiler to the Cardinal this year? It’ll be a tough task. The Cardinal, as usual, are great on defense, and it isn’t like the Ducks of 2015 are the same fireworks-waiting-to-happen unstoppable force of years past. The Ducks offense has looked a bit better these past few weeks with Vernon Adams back from injury, but overall the execution has not been what Oregon fans have grown accustomed to seeing.
Still, even if the 2015 Oregon offense isn’t quite at the level achieved when Mariota was at the helm, the team is still loaded with talent at the skill positions. Guys like Bralon Addison, Taj Griffin, Darren Carrington, and Royce Freeman can break a big play every time they have the ball. Sometimes a huge play or two is all you need to overcome a tough defense.
But if the Ducks want to pull off the upset, they’ll need to stop Stanford’s uncharacteristically dangerous offense, a task few teams have been able to do this year. Stanford can pound the ball up the middle, sure, and quarterback Kevin Hogan has played efficient football, but the Cardinal have a new dimension to their offense thanks to all-purpose weapon Christian McCaffrey, who is putting together one of the best all-around seasons in the nation. The 2015 Stanford Cardinal are more explosive than the Stanford teams of the past few years, and that big-play potential, when combined with their usual ability to control the clock via the running game, makes for a tall order for any defense to handle.
The Ducks have too many weapons to be completely shut-down by the Cardinal, but will Oregon’s porous, mediocre defense finally put together a good game? That’s what it will take if the Ducks want to pull off the upset in Palo Alto.
Next: Iowa Hawkeyes at Nebraska Cornhuskers