Stanford shocks Oregon No.3 in overtime

Stanford hadn’t scored a run the entire second half, but he had to run most of the length of the pitch in the final two minutes to keep his hopes of upsetting No.3 Oregon alive.

Thanks to three costly Oregon penalties, the Cardinal did just that, and it ultimately led to the Ducks’ first loss of the season. The 31-24 upheaval dealt a brutal blow to the Ducks, the Pac-12’s best hope to return to the college football playoffs for the first time since 2016.

The odds were completely in Oregon’s favor, but Stanford managed to drive 86 yards and force overtime on a touchdown pass from Tanner McKee to Elijah Higgins. The tying touchdown came on an untimely save that followed a controversial defensive hold penalty on the fourth and goal.

From there, Stanford scored to open overtime, then got a fourth save to seal the upset victory.

Stanford led 17-7 at halftime, but Oregon hit back

Stanford was actually leading 17-7 at halftime, but Oregon came back to take a 24-17 lead with 9:32 to go. After back-to-back punters, Stanford had one last chance from his own 13-yard line with 1:53 to go. Two penalties later, Stanford was back on its own 4-yard line and things looked grim.

But things changed when Stanford hit a 23-yard pass and then Oregon star rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux was flagged for targeting. Suddenly Stanford was near the midfield. Later in practice, Oregon committed another personal foul penalty, this time roughing up the passer.

The controversial sanction that led to overtime

After the two personal foul penalties, Stanford moved inside 10 and scored a first and a goal of 3 with less than 20 seconds to go. The Cardinal suffered a running game loss on the first down and McKee threw incomplete passes on the second and third downs.

The story continues

On the fourth try, McKee came back in the air and his pass was incomplete again at the end of the time limit. For a brief moment, it looked like the Ducks had retained a win.

However, Oregon was once again reported. This time it was a questionable defensive call in the end zone.

That penalty resulted in an untimed save and another shot for Stanford to send the game into overtime. This time, Stanford’s fifth try inside the 5, McKee connected with Higgins for the score that sent the game into overtime and could put the entire Pac-12 season in motion.

What does this mean for Oregon, Pac-12?

Oregon now has no margin for error if it wants to advance to the college football playoffs.

The Ducks, who suffered a slew of injuries and lacked offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead on Saturday due to illness, climbed the standings when they upset Ohio State on the road during the week 2. Since then, however, the Ducks have been shaking a bit.

Last week, Oregon had just a 24-19 lead over Arizona without a win in the fourth quarter. Stanford is a far superior opponent, so the Ducks had to play a lot better to get a road victory.

For much of the game, Oregon looked slow and quarterback Anthony Brown struggled to shake things up in the passing game. Although the Ducks eventually took a lead in the fourth quarter, that slow start would prove costly in the end.

Coming in on Saturday, Oregon was the Pac-12’s only undefeated team. Behind Oregon, the only other Pac-12 ranked team is the 20th UCLA. The Bruins are 3-1 with a three-point loss to Fresno State. As of this writing, there are two other teams with a loss – Arizona State and Oregon State. ASU has a loss against BYU. OSU lost to Purdue.

All of a sudden, things are looking pretty grim for the Pac-12.