STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford's chances for the College Football Playoff suffered a blow with a 38-36 loss to Oregon at Stanford Stadium on Saturday night.
The Cardinal's last hope fell to the ground with a failed two-point conversion pass that could have tied the game with 10 seconds left. Stanford scored on a four-yard pass from Kevin Hoganto Greg Taboada, but the ensuing try to tight end Austin Hooper was broken up.
Despite the loss, the Cardinal (8-2 overall, 7-1 Pac-12) still can win the Pac-12 North title and earn a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game with a victory over visiting Cal in the Big Game next week or with a loss by Oregon (7-3, 5-2) to USC or Oregon State in the next two weeks.
"Any time you lose, it stings … it's tough," Stanford fifth-year senior linebacker Kevin Anderson said. "But if you told me at the beginning of the season, you would have a chance to beat Cal to win the Pac-12 North, play in the Pac-12 championship and potentially go to the Rose Bowl, I would say that's awesome. So, we need a bit of perspective here. But it definitely stings right now."
Oregon carved up Stanford with big plays, while the Cardinal didn't help itself by settling for field goals in the red zone and committing three turnovers.
"What happens in tight games like this, you can't give up big plays, you can't turn the ball over, and can't miss opportunities," said David Shaw, Stanford's Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football. "And that's what happened to us."
Stanford, despite a work-horse performance by Christian McCaffrey, was unable to keep up with the Ducks in a game that featured seven lead changes – six in the first half. McCaffrey shouldered much of the load rushing for 147 yards on 33 carries and gaining 244 all-purpose yards while breaking two school records.
Oregon gained 438 yards, including 233 on the ground, but still was limited to only a field goal in the fourth quarter, giving Stanford three possessions that could have given it the lead or tied the game. The first two ended on fumbled snaps, the latter on the Oregon 16 with 2:06 left, and the third on the two-point try.
After the Cardinal's fourth sack of the game stopped Oregon on a three-and-out, Stanford took possession at midfield with 1:09 left and no timeouts and drove downfield, with help of an 11-yard pass to Michael Rector on third-and-10, and a pass interference call against Oregon in the end zone.
On first-and-goal at the 4, Hogan went to tight end Taboada, who made his second touchdown catch of the fourth quarter. Taboada fought off the coverage of Arrion Springs and stretched for a two-handed grab just inside the goal line.
On the conversion try, Hogan went to Hooper, on a stop-and-cut route over the middle, but was forced to rush the pass and the ball never reached his target.
"We fought like crazy, but we didn't fight very smart," said David Shaw, Stanford's Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football. Three apparent Stanford first downs were negated by penalties, and the Cardinal kept an Oregon drive alive because of a hit out of bounds after a third-down stop. Oregon scored on a 49-yard pass from Vernon Adams Jr. to Taj Griffin on the next play, giving the Ducks a 35-23 lead.
"We made big plays, but we gave up too many big plays," Shaw said. "We gave them way too much, but the fight was always there. I'm really proud of them."
McCaffrey set school records with 2,418 all-purpose yards this season, breaking Glyn Milburn's 1992 mark of 2,234. Also, McCaffrey's eighth consecutive 100-yard rushing performance broke Toby Gerhart's 2009 record of seven. He also scored on an 11-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
McCaffrey's touchdown was set up by a deep third-down sideline pass that Rector caught for 35 yards. The pass probably was the second-most spectacular play involving quarterback Hogan. The first was Hogan's 22-yard first-quarter touchdown run. On third-and-4, Hogan followed blocks by fullback Daniel Marx and right tackle Casey Tucker, leaped over a defender at the 10 and withstood a hit inside the 5 before spinning into the end zone.
Hogan completed 28 of 37 passes for 304 yards with two touchdown passes, and Rector had a big night with eight catches for 103 yards.
Though Stanford led 23-21 at halftime, Oregon broke out in the third quarter with consecutive touchdowns, first on Royce Freeman's 19-yard run and then on Griffin's long catch. A missed Stanford field-goal try didn't help the Cardinal's cause.
Stanford lost to two starting defensive backs at different points in the game -- cornerback Ronnie Harris and safety Dallas Lloyd -- and was unable to contain the Ducks for most of the game. Adams completed his first 10 passes, finishing 10-of-12 for 205 yards and two touchdowns.
But it was Stanford's inability to stop the big play that hurt it the most.
"It's what they live on," Shaw said.
Oregon's five touchdown drives included plays of 49, 75, 47, 33, and 49 yards. The Ducks' total time of possession during those drives – 6:29.
Stanford dominated time of possession (42:06 to 17:54), first downs (32 to 18), third-down conversions (12-of-17 to 2-of-7), and total offensive plays (86 to 48). But rather than illustrate Stanford domination, it gave an indication of Oregon's quick-strike attack.
The Cardinal defense buckled down somewhat after allowing 150 rushing yards in the first quarter, and got 2.5 sacks from Brennan Scarlett. His second forced the ball loose from Adams and Anderson plucked it out of the air and rambled 51 yards before being caught at the Oregon 9.
However, Stanford was unable to take advantage and settled for a 23-yard Ukropina field goal to extend a short-lived lead to 20-14, but failing on an opportunity to take some semblance of control of the game.
"Scoring touchdowns rather than field goals is paramount in this game," Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said.
Those types of failed opportunities ultimately put Stanford on a one-play scenario.
"They blitzed us and Kevin was going to get hit one way or the other," Shaw said. "It was pressure, it was a blitz, there was a guy coming after Kevin scot-free. Just didn't make the play, either the throw or the catch."
Oregon inside linebacker Joe Walker was on the coverage and made some contact on the low ball, which may have prevented Hooper from making the catch.
Still, Stanford still had a chance.
"Every time we went down, we came back," Shaw said. "There's no quit in us. The guys fought all the way to the end. "
