7) Oregon (8-1, 6-0) at 4) Stanford (9-0, 7-0)
The Cardinal will put their NCAA-high 17-game winning streak on the line Saturday night against Oregon. The Ducks actually were the last team to defeat Stanford, downing them 52-31 in Oregon last season.
Currently the two teams sit undefeated atop the Pac-12 North, putting the winner of this game in the driver’s seat with only a couple of games left.
Last year’s contest saw Andrew Luck and Stanford take a 21-3 first-quarter lead before the Ducks quickly took command in an offensive assault in which the two sides gained more than 1,100 combined yards.
Luck is back this year and is currently fifth in the NCAA with a quarterback rating of 174.1. The highly rated NFL prospect showed his worth two weeks ago in a comeback win at rival USC, engineering a game-tying touchdown drive to push the game to overtime where the Cardinal prevailed.
Stanford will have to deal with Oregon’s high-speed offense. Running back LaMichael James has thrived in it, accumulating 1,061 rushing yards on the season despite missing two games to injury.
Oregon has looked very good since losing their season opener to LSU. Their eight wins since then have seen them score an average of 48.4 points per game, while somehow flying under the national radar. Prediction: Oregon 41, Stanford 38.
