by Jerry Feitelberg

Palo Alto- The Stanford Cardinal behind the passing of Keller Chryst and the running of Bryce Love cruised to a 49-7 route of the Oregon Ducks. This series between and Oregon and Stanford has been hotly contested over the last seven or eight years. Oregon ran past the Cardinal in 2010 and 2011. Stanford won in 2012 and 2013. The Ducks prevailed in 2014 and 2015. The Cardinal won at Autzen Stadium last year 52-27 and dominated the Ducks Saturday night at Stanford Stadium. The Cardinal was missing two of their defensive stars, Harrison Phillips and Peter Kalambayi for the first half as they were called for targeting in the game against Utah last week. Phillips and Kalambayi made their presence felt in the second half as they were able to make several key stops early in the half.

The Cardinal got off to a roaring start. After the opening kickoff, they went on a six-play 77-yard drive to put seven points on the board with 12:34 left in the first quarter. The key plays were a thirty-four yard run by Bryce Love and a thirty-four-yard pass from Keller Chryst to J J Arcega Whiteside to put the ball on the Oregon 5-yard line. Love took it in for the score. The Cardinal defense held the Ducks to three and out to force a punt. The Cardinal took over on their 33-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Bryce Love broke through into the secondary and went 67-yards for his second touchdown of the night. Love has carried the ball five times for 115 yards, and there is still over ten minutes left to play in the quarter. Stanford leads 14-0. The Ducks came right back to make it 14-7 with 8:48 left. They went on a five-play 86-yard drive for the tally. Senior running back Royce Freeman mad two big runs on the drive. He ripped off a big 59-yarder and then followed with a 22-yard sprint that took the ball to the Cardinal one-yard line. Quarterback Braxton Burmeister ran it in for the score. The Cardinal regained the two-touchdown lead on their next possession. Behind Keller Chryst’s passing and the running of Bryce Love, the Cardinal went on a 71 -yard drive that consumed five minutes and sixteen seconds off the clock. Pass plays to Arcega-Whiteside, Connor Weddington, and a three-yard throw to Arcega-Whiteside gave Stanford a 21-7 lead. Bryce Love rushed for 136 yards. Stanford amassed 261 total offense in the first 15 minutes of action.

With 8:05 left in the second quarter, the Cardinal defense put seven points on the board when outside linebacker, Curtis Robinson, blocked a punt. Brendon Simmons scooped the ball up on the one-yard line and took it home for the touchdown. The CArdinal now own a 28-7 lead. Stanford to score from the Oregon 7-yard line with 34 seconds left in the first half. The drive was thwarted when the Ducks intercepted Chryst’s pass in the end zone. Stanford leads 28-7 after 30 minutes of play.

The Cardinal continued the onslaught when they scored with 6:53 left in the third quarter. Stanford went on a nine-play 75-yard drive that took five minutes and three seconds off the clock. Key plays on the drive were runs by Cameron Scarlett and two twelve-yard tosses to J J Arcega-Whiteside. Chryst’s last pass on the drive was caught by Arcega-Whiteside for the touchdown. The third quarter ends with Stanford in total control 35-7.

The Cardinal offense continued to pound the Ducks defense as they scored another touchdown with 11:09 remaining in the game. The Cardinal kept the ball on the ground. Running back Trevor Speights carried several times to get the Cardinal down to the six-yard line. With third and goal from the three-yard line, Chryst lofted a pass to tight end Colby Parkinson in the left corner of the end zone. Parkinson made a nice leaping catch for the TD. The drive took five minutes and eight seconds off the clock. Most of the fans have left as Stanford owns a 42-7 advantage.  Coach David Shaw removed most of his regulars and inserted K J Costello as quarterback midway through the fourth quarter. Costello engineered a 58-yard scoring drive to make it 49-7 with a little over three minutes left in the game.

Game Notes- Play was stopped in the first half when a rabbit was running all over the field of play. The 48,559 fans in attendance cheered the rabbit on as he was very elusive until someone on the Ducks caught him. That was the biggest play the Ducks made on defense all night.

Keller Chryst had a good night as he completed fifteen passes in twenty-one attempts. He threw for three touchdowns and had one pass intercepted. K J Costello was five for six with one TD. Bryce Love had seventeen carries for 147 yards. Love sat out most of the second half. Trevor Speights had 8 carries for 61 yards, and Cameron Scarlett also had 8 carries, and he picked up 35 yards for Stanford. Arcega Whiteside snagged six passes good for 112 yards, and Trent Irwin caught five.

Stanford amasses 504 yards of total offense compared to Oregon’s 309. Stanford’s record improves to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-12. Oregon is now 4-3 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Both Washington and Washington State lost this weekend and there are now no undefeated teams in the Pac-12. The Cardinal have a bye next week then travel to Corvallis to play the 1-6 Oregon State Beavers.