Thursday night games in college football usually aren’t that important. Tonight, 4 of the Top 10 ranked teams played each other. #5 Stanford led the whole way, and survived a furious comeback attempt by #3 Oregon 26-20. In the other game, #6 Baylor easily withstood their first big test of the season, with a 41-12 win over Oklahoma.
Stanford took advantage of early Oregon mistakes to take a 14-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter. The Oregon Ducks went for a 4th and goal on their first drive and missed it. Then the Stanford Cardinal (not cardinals, they are named after a tree) then went all the way down the field for their first touchdown. The next time the Ducks were in the red zone (inside their opponent’s 20 yard line), they fumbled the ball away at the 2 yard line. Oregon added a late field goal to take a 17-0 halftime lead to the locker room.
The third quarter looked much like the first half, except the Cardinal just added 2 field goals, to start the 4th quarter with a 23-0 lead. The Ducks were averaging almost 56 points per game coming into this PAC 12 showdown. It looked like Stanford was cruising to a rare blowout upset. But Oregon finally scored on a touchdown pass from their quarterback and Heisman Trophy favorite coming into the game, Marcus Mariota with 10:11 remaining. 5 minutes later, the Ducks blocked a field goal attempt and ran it back for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to 26-13, after a failed 2-point conversion attempt.
Oregon then recovered an onside kick, and scored again, to get within 6 points, with 2:12 remaining. After their 3rd attempted, and 2nd unsuccessful onside kick, Stanford ran out the clock with a 26-20 win. Cardinal running back Tyler Gaffney had a team record 45 carries, for 157 yards. Stanford rushed for a total of 274 yards in the game. For the second year in a row, the Cardinal has ended the Ducks undefeated season, and probably any chance to play for the national championship.
The Baylor Bears had a big night, showing the whole country that they have an excellent team. They came into this game leading the country in scoring, with almost 64 points per game. So the Oklahoma Sooners holding them to 41 wasn’t so bad, I guess. But if a team scores 41, then you won’t win, unless you score at least 42, and the Sooners weren’t even close to that. They actually led 5-3 early in the 2nd quarter. Then Baylor scored 28 straight points, to take a commanding 31-5 lead halfway through the 3rd quarter. Bear quarterback Bryce Petty, who should be among the top Heisman Trophy candidates, had a modest game passing, with 204 yards on 13 of 26 passing. However, he threw for 3 touchdowns, and ran for 2 more. Baylor also rushed for 255 yards in the game.
The loss of Oregon opens the door especially for Florida State to the national championship game. Their schedule is relatively easy the rest of the way. Ohio State also enjoyed the Oregon loss, but after Thursday night, how far will Stanford and Baylor move up in the rankings? Alabama is ranked #1 and will remain that way as long as they keep winning. But the way I would rank the Top 5 right now isn’t the way they are ranked in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). I would rank Florida State #1, based on their routs of previously unbeaten Clemson and Miami. I would have Alabama #2, Baylor #3, Ohio State #4 and Stanford at #5. Yes I know Stanford was already #5 before the win against Oregon, but I wouldn’t have had them that high, and their loss to Utah will loom large in the end. The 4 teams I have ahead of them are all still unbeaten.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
