STANFORD 0/7/14/10/7 - 38
OREGON 7/17/0/7/0 - 31
EUGENE, OREGON - The Ducks had a 24-7 lead late in the third quarter, but a bad snap and disastrous fumble resulted in a comeback victory for the Stanford Cardinal at Autzen Stadium. Justin Herbert was 25-of-27 for 331 yards and a touchdown in regulation, but the passing attack led by K.J. Costello came alive after a late Oregon turnover. The Mario Cristobal era began conference play with a loss.
After forcing the Cardinal to punt, a 53-yard pass to Dillon Mitchell on third-and-10 set up a touchdown run from senior Tony Brooks-James. A sack from Ugo Amadi and Kaulana Apelu on third down ended Stanford’s next drive, then the Oregon offense marched 88 yards in 14 plays in a drive that was capped by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Herbert to tight end Jacob Breeland.
Stanford was able to cut the lead to seven when K.J Costello and standout receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside connected for 53 yards on their next drive, including a 13-yard touchdown pass, but four plays later CJ Verdell gave the Ducks a 21-7 lead with a 48-yard touchdown run.
A three-and-out from the visitors added to the Ducks first half momentum, and the home team was able to tack on a 38-yard field goal before the half to put Oregon up 24 to 7. A bad snap from Jake Hanson stalled the Duck drive at the Cardinal 13-yard line, resulting in the field goal attempt - the snapfu was a portent for what would eventually doom Oregon’s conference opener.
After trading punts to open up the third quarter, the Ducks appeared to be on the path for another touchdown. Dillon Mitchell and CJ Verdell helped the team reach the Stanford 17, and on first down Jaylon Redd took a short pass to the one-yard line where he was called out-of-bounds due to kicking the pylon before reaching the end zone. Oregon escaped their first flirtation with disaster when Justin Herbert recovered a fumble from Cyrus Habibi-Likio for a loss of nine yards, but two plays later Jake Hanson snapped the ball high and Herbert failed to wrangle it in. Stanford’s Joey Alfieri scooped the ball and returned it 80 yards to cut the lead to 10.
Adding to the downward slide, Herbert and the offense went three-and-out on the proceeding possession. K.J. Costello threw passes to Colby Parkinson and Trenton Irwin to fly down the field for 43 yards, then star running back Bryce Love finished the three-play drive with his best carry of the night, a 22-yard touchdown run.
Suddenly, the Cardinal was down by just three points with 12 seconds left in the third quarter. Justin Herbert was sacked by Jordan Fox and Dylan Jackson on third-and-short in the Ducks’ second straight three-and-out. In the fourth quarter, Herbert took control of the game by connecting on five consecutive passes in an 11-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. Dillon Mitchell added to his fantastic showing (14 receptions for 239 yards) by dancing his way to the one-yard line, then the drive concluded with Habibi-Likio reclaiming the lead with a one-yard score. Ducks 31 - Cardinal 28.
Stanford had 4:39 left in the game for the go-ahead score, but needed less than a minute-and-a-half to answer Oregon’s touchdown. Three of Stanford’s best pass-catchers - Osiris St. Brown, Kaden Smith, and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside - caught passes of 49, 20, and 15 yards respectively to reach the end zone.
Cristobal aimed to run out the clock on Oregon’s final drive of regulation, and nearly did so thanks to a couple of successful passes and carries from Herbert and some productive touches from CJ Verdell. And on second-and-3 with 51 second remaining, it appeared Verdell picked up the game-winning first down, but as the back reached out to make sure he converted, Stanford’s Noah Williams stripped the ball which was recovered by linebacker Sean Barton.
Costello led his offense to the Oregon 14-yard line, where kicker Jet Toner sent the game in to overtime with a field goal. It took Stanford just two plays to score in OT: a two-yard run from Bryce Love, then a 23-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson who towered over the Oregon defensive back.
After near perfection from Herbert during regulation, the junior quarterback went 1-of-6 in overtime, and ended his evening with an end zone interception on fourth down to Alameen Murphy.
Now that we’ve recapped it, let’s never talk of this game again.
" Unfortunately we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a couple times. We did everything we could to help Stanford win the game. But we're going to stick together, and we're not gonna let it define us."
- Justin Herbert
Oregon Offense (total: 524 - pass: 346 - rush: 178)
Stanford Offense (total: 398 - pass: 327 - rush: 71)
Oregon Defense (forced turnovers: 0)
Stanford Defense (forced turnovers: 2 - INT: 1 - FUM: 1)
UO (3-1, 0-1) STAN (4-0, 2-0)