After failing to offer any resistance against the top-scoring team in the country, Stanford gets another chance to stop a high-powered offense Saturday when Oregon visits Stanford Stadium (3:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
The Ducks (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) are second in the country in points per game (54.0) behind Southern Cal (55.0). The Trojans led 49-3 at halftime against Stanford in the second week of the season before pulling Heisman-winning quarterback Caleb Williams in a game that ended 56-10.
The Ducks have their own Heisman hopeful at quarterback in Bo Nix, who accounted for four touchdowns, including an 80-yard run, in last year’s 45-27 win over Stanford in Eugene.
“He’s great in the pocket, gets himself out of trouble,” Cardinal coach Troy Taylor said. “He doesn’t rely on his running ability, but he’s a very good runner. He’s a guy that’s got a lot of confidence in his ability and the system. And they have good people around him.”
Oregon leads the nation in yards per rush (6.98) and has committed just one turnover through four games.
Senior linebacker Lance Keneley said that Stanford (1-3, 0-2) is focused on not getting distracted by pre-snap movement.
“It’s just for us to not get confused by some of the gadgets and some of the things that they do to get guys out of gaps,” Keneley said. “I think when defenses are on the same page and gaps are aligned, all of the gadgets and sort of hand-wavy goes away and it just becomes ‘Can you execute and can you do your job?’”
While the USC game got out of hand early, Cardinal defensive coordinator Bobby April on Sunday told the team that two of its best five defensive performances since 2020 have occurred this season, based on fewest yards allowed. Hawaii posted 350 yards in the season opener, and Arizona recorded 349 yards last week.
“We can just get better and better, keep trending in that direction,” Keneley said. “And by the end of the season, I think a lot of people are going to be surprised.”
Still, the defense has allowed game-winning touchdowns in the fourth quarter in each of the last two games, and Stanford has lost three in a row overall. But Taylor isn’t worried about any carryover as the Cardinal prepares for its last conference game against Oregon.
“When you’re a competitor, you put so much into it, you want to see the results of getting the ‘W,’ and it’s deflating when that doesn’t happen,” Taylor said. “But what our guys have really focused on doing is moving on quickly. People talking about having a 24-hour hangover. We don’t do that. We don’t have a five-minute hangover. When you’re really young and inexperienced, you can sit around and wish for those couple of plays. It’s human nature. But we’re moving forward.”
QB SHUFFLE
Taylor has handled each of the first four games differently regarding his sophomore quarterbacks Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson. Daniels played the entire game against Hawaii, the first quarter against USC (though he did appear to suffer an injury), and the first half against Sacramento State.
Then last week against Arizona, the two quarterbacks would go in and out throughout the game, often in the same series.
Taylor also used two quarterbacks throughout the season last year at Sacramento State, but he said that’s not his ideal strategy.
“If somebody emerges, we’ll probably play one of them the majority of the time,” Taylor said. “But until then, until somebody emerges, I’ll probably play both of them.”
The Ducks lead the Pac-12 and rank ninth in the FBS in passing defense, allowing just 158.8 yards per game.
LUCK HONORED
Andrew Luck and the rest of the Stanford Hall of Fame Class of 2023 will be honored at halftime. Luck went 31-8 as Cardinal’s starting quarterback, resurrecting a program that had suffered seven straight losing seasons before he became the starter in 2009.
Source: www.mercurynews.com