EUGENE — It was cruel, all right. It was vicious and it was mean and it was delivered with impunity.
And as fourth-ranked Oregon flattened ninth-ranked Stanford 52-31 Saturday, it was everything that nobody expected.
Sure, you can look at the gaudy numbers. You can look at the 626 yards of offense for the Ducks — or the 49 points they scored in the final three quarters — and you can assume that it was another flashy showcase for the offense.
And you would be right. But it was more. It was so much more. It was Oregon stamping itself as a legitimate national-title contender, not merely the vanquisher of New Mexico and Portland State.
Because in a game that was billed as Oregon’s speed against Stanford’s strength, the Ducks took the bullies of the Pac-10 behind the woodshed. Oregon spent the final two quarters being the more physical, more aggressive, more passionate team, turning reputations and public perceptions upside down.
Consider a little bit of history.
Consider that Stanford smash-mouthed its way to a 51-42 victory last year over the Ducks. And consider what Stanford center Chase Beeler revealed a couple weeks ago:
“One of our mottos is, ‘We’re going to win with character, but we’re also going to win with cruelty,’ ” Beeler said.
Cruelty, indeed.
Cruelty such as a 28-0 second half by the Ducks, or a 49-10 stretch after an early 21-3 deficit. Cruelty such as Oregon carrying the ball 51 times and losing yardage on exactly none of them. Cruelty such as Javes Lewis hitting Stanford receiver Chris Owusu so hard that he knocked the taste from his mouth and the football from his hands.
That fumble was picked up by Oregon’s Eddie Pleasant and returned 51 yards to the Stanford 3-yard line, setting up a go-ahead touchdown that irrevocably altered the course of the game.
No, the turning point was not a flashy fake by Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas or an ankle-breaking run by running back LaMichael James. It was a hard-hitting defensive play, one of many delivered by Oregon.
The Ducks faced a team that had scored at least 13 points in every half it had played this season — including 31 in the first half Saturday — and held it scoreless over the final two periods. They faced a quarterback who is going to spend a lot of Sundays making NFL defenses look silly, and they made him look ordinary for long stretches of the game.
“I told them at halftime all they needed to do in the second half is get caught in the act of being themselves,” Oregon coach Chip Kelly said.
That’s when Oregon trailed 31-24, having climbed back from an early 21-3 deficit. Which, in retrospect, means the Ducks probably had the Cardinal right where they wanted them.
Oregon has rallied from 10-point deficits against Tennessee and Arizona State, and now it has obliterated an 18-point deficit against Stanford.
“We’ve just got to finish, you know,” said James, who rushed for 257 yards. “We’re down but we know something is going to break, because of our endurance and our tempo.”
They can add toughness to that list, after manhandling a team that prides itself on its cruelty.
And so as Oregon stands at 5-0, with a No. 4 ranking in the polls and a victory over the team expected to be its biggest challenge in the conference, there is no reason to assign any limits to the Ducks.
There is no telling if Oregon is the best team in the country, but there is no reason to imagine anybody is a whole lot better.
Greg Jayne is Sports editor of The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4531, or by e-mail at greg.jayne@columbian.com. To read his blog, go to columbian.com/weblogs/GregJayne
