by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal (5-3, 3-2 Pac-12) will meet the fifth ranked University of Oregon Ducks (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) at Autzen Stadium in Eugene,Oregon at 4:30 pm PDT on Saturday November 1st. Autzen Stadium is the home of the Ducks and holds 54,000 screaming Duck fans is in generally thought to be a house of horrors for visiting teams.

The Ducks will be seeking to avenge the last two losses to the Cardinal. In 2012, the Cardinal stunned

the fans at Autzen Stadium as they upset the Ducks and went on to the represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl. Stanford again beat the Ducks last year at Stanford Stadium as they controlled the ball for 42 minutes and pressured Heisman trophy candidate Marcus Mariota into making mistakes. Mariota rallied his team in the fourth quarter it was too little, too late.The Cardinal again went to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-12 Champion.

This year is a different story for the Cardinal. The offense has not been able to get untracked but the defense has been stellar. The Cardinal’s three losses have all come against teams ranked in the top 20.

In order for Stanford to win, the defense has to put as much pressure as possible on Mariota as the can muster and the offense has to be able to score to get the crowd out of the game. Oregon has Mariota back and he has been helped out on offense by several freshmen. Royce Freeman is sixth in the nation in rushing TDs with thirteen and has thrown a touchdown pass to Mariota. Other freshmen of note for Oregon are wide receiver Devon Allen with six touchdowns, Charles Nelson and running back Kani Benoit. Byron Marshall was the Ducks’ leading rusher last year but he is now playing in the slot and leads the Ducks in receptions with 38 catches for 521 yards. He is also averaging 8.3 yard per carry as a running back.

This will the 78th meeting between the two teams dating back to 1900 and Stanford leads the series 46-30-1.

The Ducks will be playing for the lead in the Pac-12 North Division while the Cardinal will be trying for n upset and a win will improve their record to 6-3. Kevin Hogan and the Cardinal offense will have their work cut out for them as they will be playing in a very hostile and loud environment.

Kudos to them if they can pull off the upset.