Stanford running back Toby Gerhart rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns as the Cardinal shocked No. 8 Oregon 51-42 on Saturday.
Andrew Luck completed 12 of 20 for 251 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions to lead Stanford past Oregon, 51-42. Toby Gerhart rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns.
Stanford finished with 505 total yards. Oregon had been giving up only 301 yards per game.
Sure, Oregon seemed to suffer a hangover from its 47-20 win over USC last weekend. But this was about Stanford’s offense dominating the Ducks defense, and the Ducks offense not being able to keep up.
What does it mean?
It means the Pac-10 is now wide-open. Arizona controls its own fate, but there is so much football left that it’s almost meaningless to speculate.
It means the Pac-10 is out of the national title hunt.
It means the Oregon vs. Boise State rankings debate ends.
And it means Stanford, at 6-3, is bowl eligible. The Cardinal haven’t gone to a bowl since 2001.
This had trap written all over it, although I still thought Oregon would prevail. The Ducks just couldn’t match the intensity it had from last week’s huge win over USC. They were emotionally spent and Stanford took full advantage of it but taking it to them for four quarters. Gerhart was amazing today and his performance may have catapulted him back into the Heisman race.
Boise State stands to benefit the most from Oregon’s loss. Some had started to question whether or not the Ducks deserved to be ranked higher than the Broncos, even though Boise routed Oregon in the opening week of the season. With the Ducks now out of the way, the Broncos can start working on that whole style points thing that they continue to struggle with.
