DAMN IT! Our first loss! Our 17 game win streak is over! National Championship hopes are crushed! Andrew Luck *may* have just lost the Heisman!Wow - what a game of bummers.
Whole Hanan clan was there (see here), Connor was at the game.
Stanford just couldn't do anything right in this game. Oregon's defense confused Luck and stopped the run. Our defense could not stop the Ducks and gave up a handful of long plays (4th and 7 for a touchdown for one). 5 turnovers don't help . Best way to sum it up: we played our worst game of the year when we had to play our best.
Some recaps from around the interwebs...
Five things we learned about the Cardinal in their 53-30 loss to Oregon.
- The Cardinal aren’t national title contenders: Not even close, considering how they looked last night. They were inefficient on offense and got pushed around defensively as the game dragged on. When the last chapter of the 2011 season is written, this team will probably go down as one of the best in school history. And it will be. This is a very good football team. But very good isn’t great. And great teams win national championships. There are only a couple of great teams in college football, and the most important thing we learned last night is that Stanford isn't one of them.
- It was a total team loss: The offense turned the ball over too many times (which led to 21 Oregon points) and didn’t capitalize when Oregon gave it gifts (three points off two turnovers). The defense gave up too many big plays -- including touchdowns of 58, 41 and 59 yards. Can’t hang this one on just the offense. Can’t hang it on just the defense, either. Lots of blame to go around.
- History has a funny way of repeating itself: 52-31 last season; 53-30 this year; turnovers playing a major role in the outcome; Andrew Luck intercepted twice … starting to sound a little familiar. Big difference between last year and this year: 1,144 yards of total offense combined last year and 787 this year. But the overall theme was pretty much the same -- wasted opportunities for Stanford against a superior Oregon team.
- Luck’s Heisman hopes just took a hit: If this was the only game voters decided to tune in for to watch a complete Luck performance -- and you know that’s the case for a lot of them -- they saw a quarterback who never got into a rhythm because his receivers had drops compounded with some bad throws and decisions. Luck is still probably the front-runner, but this thing just got a lot closer than it was 24 hours ago.
- For the first time this year, Stanford didn’t react: Whether this falls on the players or the coaches is irrelevant. Oregon did a great job making subtle adjustments throughout the course of the game. Either Stanford’s coaches didn’t respond or the players didn’t respond. Either way, Oregon was the better team in all aspects.
Instant analysis from Oregon's 53-30 win over Stanford.
- How the game was won: Oregon was just better. Better on offense. Better on defense. Stanford’s tight ends couldn’t hold on to the ball. Andrew Luck looked tight and never got into a rhythm. And Oregon capitalized on the big play -- scoring touchdowns of 58, 41 and 59 yards. The five Stanford turnovers didn't help either.
- Turning point: Luck was sacked for the second time in the third quarter and fumbled deep in his own territory. LaMichael James scored on a fourth-and-2 a few plays later and the Ducks went up 36-16. It was too big of a deficit for the Cardinal to overcome.
- Player of the game: James was the best player on the field -- on either side of the ball. Whether he was running inside the tackles our bouncing to the outside, he was too fast and elusive for Stanford's defenders. He finished with 146 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries.
- Unsung hero of the game: Not often that we refer to Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas as an “unsung” hero, but he was quietly efficient with three touchdown passes. James stole the show, but Thomas quietly orchestrated an Oregon offense that Stanford could not stop.
- What it means: Stanford’s national championship aspirations have expired. Oregon’s, however, seem to have been resuscitated. For Luck, his Heisman campaign suffers its first serious setback of the year. He threw two interceptions and fumbled. He looked sharp at times, average at others, and below average others. James, on the other hand, gave his Heisman hopes a nice shot in the arm.
