The College Football Blog: 2012 Pac-12 Game of the Year

Pac-12 Game of the Year

Week 12: Stanford at Oregon (17-14, OT)

Highlights: Ranked #2 at 10-0, Oregon was in good position to earn a spot in the BCS Championship Game if they were to win out. They would clinch a spot in the Pac-12 title game with a win in this game. #13 Stanford was 8-2 and could reach the Pac-12 title game if they won out, but they came into this one as 18.5-point underdogs. 

Oregon may have been the better team but Stanford beat them fair and square on this night, doing it on the road. The Cardinal certainly got some breaks, but there wasn’t anything cheap about the victory. They got the win by playing fantastic defense against the most explosive offense in the country. 

Stanford held Kenjon Barner to just 66 yards on 21 carries and no TD’s, averaging just 3.1 yards per rush. They bottled up De’Anthony Thomas, limiting Oregon’s spectacular athlete to just 74 all-purpose yards on 13 touches. Even Marcus Mariota—who played a decent game overall—didn’t have a huge day, as the Cardinal limited him to 296 total yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. 

It wasn’t just Stanford’s defense that did the job. They also played great special teams, with punter Daniel Zychlinski averaging 45.7 yards on 6 punts, putting 5 inside the 20, and allowing just 1 return for 2 yards. Jordan Williamson made the biggest kick of the year in the end. 

Stanford’s offense matched Oregon on the ground and in the air, getting big nights from their top 3 offensive players. Zach Ertz caught 11 passes for 106 yards and made a spectacular catch for a TD on perhaps the biggest play of the year in college football. Freshman QB Kevin Hogan completed 25 of 36 passes for 211 yards, 1 TD, and 1 pick, while also rushing for 37 yards and a TD on 8 carries. And Stepfan Taylor was a horse, rushing 33 times for 161 yards. 

The Cardinal had a 14-minute edge in time of possession and held Oregon to their lowest scoring total since September 3^rd of 2009. Oregon had scored at least 43 points in 13 straight games prior to this one. In the end, there was somewhat of a sense that Oregon still “should have won,” but it wasn’t because they outplayed Stanford. Indeed, it was 3 turnovers by the Cardinal that put Oregon in a position to win if they could have gotten a defensive stop late in the game. 

On their second possession of the game, Stanford drove to Oregon’s 35 before punting and pinning the Ducks at their 8. But on the first play of the ensuing Oregon possession, Mariota broke outside and went on a long run. He was finally brought down at the Stanford 15-yardline after a 77-yard run. 

The tackle seemed like good effort but otherwise not very meaningful, as Oregon was sure to score anyway. However, on 2^nd and 3, Stanford tackled Thomas for a loss of 3 and then held him to a 4-yard gain on 3^rd down to force Oregon into a 4^th and 2 from the 7. On 4^th down Mariota was stopped for no gain on one of the biggest plays of the night. 

The 1^st quarter ended with no score but with Stanford on the March. Following the big 4^th down stop, Stanford went on a 15-play, 93-yard drive over 7:01 for a TD to go on top 7-0 with 12:31 remaining in the 2^nd quarter. 

On their next possession, Oregon drove into Stanford territory but had to punt. The Ducks held Stanford and got the ball back at their own 10. This time they drove to the Stanford 35, but on 3^rd and 1 Thomas was thrown for a loss of 3. Again Oregon went for it, this time on 4^th and 4, and Mariota fired incomplete to turn it over on downs at the 38. 

Stanford marched into Oregon territory. The Cardinal was playing to win and they went for it on 4^th and 1 from the 41. They ran a brilliant play, and Ryan Hewitt came wide open over the middle but Kevin Hogan short armed the pass and it fell incomplete, giving the ball back to the Ducks with 4:13 left in the half. Now there was a total change of momentum, as the Ducks went 59 yards in 3 plays over just 47 seconds to score the game tying TD. 

Stanford stayed aggressive. With less than a minute to play in the 2^nd the Cardinal had a 1^st and 10 at the Oregon 41 when Hogan was picked off by Erick Dargan at the 16. Dargan returned it 30 yards to the 46 and the Ducks went back on offense with 42 seconds on the clock. Stanford’s defense stepped up, sacking Mariota on 2^nd down and intercepting him on 3^rd down to send it to the half tied at 7-7. 

Stanford had done remarkably well to get out of the 1^st half only allowing Oregon 7 points, but despite the late stop, it still felt like Stanford had missed an opportunity. There had just been so many times over the years when a team managed to bottle Oregon up for a while and then just got run over. Technically it was anybody’s ball game, but in reality, everyone knew Oregon would pull away at some point. 

This feeling was enhanced by the knowledge that Oregon would get the ball first in the 2^nd half. But Stanford tackled Thomas at the Oregon 10-yard line on the opening kick of the 3^rd quarter and forced a punt. Stanford got near midfield before punting. Again, Oregon was pinned deep in their own territory, this time at the 5, but you can only hope to stop Oregon’s offense for so long. Now the Ducks went on a ridiculous drive, marching 95 yards on 16 plays over just 3:20 to score the touchdown and take their first lead of the game, 14-7 in the middle of the 3^rd. 

On the first play of the ensuing Stanford possession Hogan completed a pass to Kelsey Young for a 16-yard gain but Ifo Ekpre-Olomu knocked the ball free and recovered for Oregon at the Stanford 39. So here was the moment when Oregon would take over. Once again, however, Stanford’s defense stepped up. They got help from a huge holding call as well. On 4^th and 6 from the 25 Oregon attempted a 42-yard FG try but Alejandro Maldonado missed. 

That miss seemed huge. It was only 3 points and Oregon was still ahead, but you got the sense that if the Ducks made it a 2-possession lead with 4:22 remaining in the 3^rd the game was over. Oregon’s defense got the ball back to the offense but again they were pinned, this time back at the 9. Stanford got it back near midfield and began to threaten again. On 3^rd and 7 from the 38 Taylor got loose and busted for 18 yards but IEO came up with another huge play, stripping the ball away from Taylor. Dargan recovered at the 20 and Oregon took a 14-7 lead into the 4^th. 

At some point you expected Oregon to hit a big play but it just never happened. Stanford forced a quick 3-and-out and then began marching down the field again. The drive stalled at Oregon’s 26 with Stanford facing 4^th and 3. David Shaw decided to call on Jordan Williamson. This seemed like a questionable maneuver, for even if the kick was good Stanford would still be more than a FG behind, but Shaw must have felt like he needed to get something out of the time-consuming drive. Unfortunately the kick missed, and Oregon took over up 7 with just 8:05 to go. 

Now you expected Stanford’s defense to let up but they just seemed to get stronger. After allowing a 12-yard gain by Barner on the first play of the possession, Stanford threw him for a loss of a yard, forced an incompletion, and sacked Mariota for a loss of 6 to force a punt. Stanford took over again at their own 22 with 6:28 remaining. 

They had now survived a 77-yard run; a big choke on a 4^th down play; a turnover late in the 1^st half; fumbles on back-to-back possessions in the 3^rd; and a missed FG in the 4^th. But they still needed a touchdown just to tie. 

With a mix of passes and runs Stanford moved steadily into Oregon territory but the drive stalled at the 21. Taylor rushed for no gain and IEO broke up Hogan’s pass on 2^nd down to bring up 3^rd and 10. Hogan then hit Ertz with a pass but he was brought down a yard shy of the line to gain at the 12. Stanford called their first timeout with 2:17 on the clock, facing 4^th and 1. 

The only choice to be made here concerned what play to run on 4^th down. They gave the ball to Ryan Hewitt and he picked up 2 yards for the 1^st down at the 10. On 1^st and goal Hogan put one up for Ertz near the back of the end zone. Ertz fought over the ball with an Oregon defender, wrestling it away before hitting the turf. The question was whether or not he had control of the ball and enough of his body down before hitting out of bounds. The refs ruled it incomplete but they would take another look on review. 

Upon close examination it did look like Ertz probably had control and a shoulder down before hitting out of bounds, but it was the sort of play that is usually upheld no matter what the original call was. In this instance, however, the officials decide to overturn the original call, and Stanford kicked the extra point to tie the score at 14-14 with 1:35 on the clock. 

Obviously this was a big point in the game and the Cardinal did seem to have momentum if they could get the game to OT. But on the other hand, the last team you want to face in college football’s version of overtime is Oregon. 

Stanford’s D still had to hold Oregon over the last minute-and-a-half just to get to overtime. For a moment, it looked like Stanford might not even need OT to beat the Ducks. After stopping Barner for no gain on 2^nd and 10, the Cardinal called their second timeout with 1:15 on the clock. All the momentum seemed to be on Stanford’s side. 

On 3^rd down, the defense forced an incomplete pass, but the officials called pass interference, giving Oregon a 1^st down at the 37. One play later the Ducks were at the 47. Just seconds earlier it had looked like Oregon was going to have to punt. Now they only needed 20 yards or so to get in position for a game winning FG. 

Once again, Stanford’s defense came up huge. Mariota was stopped after a gain of 2 and Oregon called time with 57 seconds to play. Barner was then dropped for a loss of a yard and Oregon called their second timeout with 51 seconds to go. On 3^rd and 9 Mariota fired incomplete. Oregon had no choice but to punt and Stanford killed the clock to send the game into overtime tied up at 14-14. 

The Ducks went on offense first in overtime. Regardless of how well Stanford’s defense had played to this point, you still thought Oregon had to have the advantage in this sort of situation. But Oregon managed to gain only 1 yard on 3 plays, brining up 4^th and 9 from the 24, and bringing on Maldonado for a 41-yard try. He missed. 

So here was Stanford’s chance. They needed to hold onto the ball, get whatever they could, and kick the FG. But after Taylor picked up 2 yards on 1^st down, Stanford for some reason decided to call a pass play. Hogan stepped up and decided to try and run but he was caught from behind by Kiko Alonso who stripped the ball out. 

Middle-of-the-field fumble recoveries are basically luck. This time, luck was on the side of the Cardinal. It took some balls to even run a play on 3^rd and 8, but Taylor picked up 3 important yards to the 20. Now Williamson—who had repeatedly choked during the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State the year before and had missed a similar kick in the 4^th quarter earlier in this one—came onto the field. Oregon attempted to freeze Williamson, but he banged the 37-yarder up and good to give Stanford the victory in a 17-14 shocker.