Dammit, Stanford.

Oregon’s post-WW2 record vs Stanford is competitive, with the Ducks holding a 30-27 edge in the series since 1945.

But the record doesn’t show that time and again, the CardIndianals have shot an arrow/sprung a sharpened tree branch into the hearts of Duck fans - either ruining the chances for a bowl bid or otherwise destroying the hopes for a season.  And, strangely, it doesn’t seem work the other way nearly as often.

By my reckoning, there have been eight nine instances since WWII that Stanford has, in one fashion or another, ruined Oregon’s season… and three times Oregon has returned the favor.

• 1954 – Oregon is ranked #16 in the AP poll and has an eye on a Rose Bowl bid. With future #1 pick George Shaw at QB, the senior-laden Webfoots are seen as ten-point favorites to knock off Stanford in Multnomah Stadium. But versatile fullback Jasper McGee broke a rib in practice and missed the game; Shaw pulled a thigh muscle in the opening victory over Idaho and wasn’t 100%. Stanford, the only team coached by high-tops, was led by future NFL stalwart John Brodie. The Indians scored quickly, took advantage of three Duck fumbles, and held on for an 18-13 win despite being outgained almost 2-1 by Oregon.
  The game was marred by numerous penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct on both teams, and after the final gun a battle royal erupted on the field, with Stanford players engaging Oregon partisans from the stands, resulting in a trip to the hoosegow for one of the visitors. Ducks fell out of the Top 20 the next week and wouldn’t return for two years, finishing the season at 6-4.
• 1964 – Len Casanova’s best team came into the Stanford game 6-0 and ranked #7 in the AP poll. They hadn’t lost since the previous November 2^nd. Never mind that the gaudy record had been earned against teams with an aggregate record of 12-20-3; Eugene was gripped with Rose Bowl fever, and the three upcoming games were seen as mere tune-ups before a Civil War that would decide the conference title. Stanford was 2-4, had just lost to #2 Notre Dame 28-6, had lost seven straight to the Webfoots, and hadn’t won a road game in two years.

  Statistically the game was a blowout – for Stanford. The Tribe outgained Oregon 374-73, had a 21-5 edge in first downs and ran off 78 plays to Oregon’s 45. But Stanford’s drives kept stalling in the red zone; they missed three field goals, allowing Oregon to keep it close. Oregon led late in the 4^th quarter, but a short punt from horrible field position gave Stanford the ball on Oregon’s 39 with 54 seconds left. As they’d done all day, the Oregon DBs failed to cover their men; Stanford’s Dave Lewis found HB Bob Blunt streaking down the sidelines, giving them a first down at the Oregon 12. Two plays later, Stanford K Brad Beck’s final attempt was true, giving the Indians an improbably 10-8 victory.
  It’s hard to say with certainty that an Oregon win would have put the Ducks in the ‘65 Rose Bowl regardless of what happened in the Civil War. What can’t be disputed is that the Stanford loss made a CW win absolutely essential for a return trip to Pasadena… and of course that didn’t happen.

• 1972 – A rare Oregon upset of a good Stanford team. The 1-5 Ducks, in Dick Enright’s first and penultimate season, hosted the #13 “Cardinals.” 17 point underdogs to 4-1 Stanford, the Ducks, who had given up over 2,000 yards rushing over its last six games, held their guests to 25 rushing yards, led 15-0 at halftime with the help of an 85 yard run by Donnie Reynolds, and held on for a 15-13 victory. The two-time Rose Bowl champions, sporting a new, less-racially-insensitive nickname and mascot, never recovered from the humiliation, going just 2-5 in conference.
• 1976 – Oregon was on a five-game losing streak, and had been outscored 151-39 including the last game, a 0-46 pasting at UCLA. Don Read needed a win over Stanford to keep his job. The stats were there; Oregon outgained the Cardinal, 425-265, and forced 10 punts. But Jack Henderson threw four interceptions, leading to 21 Stanford points, and the team couldn’t crawl out of its self-created hole. Played before a crowd very generously estimated at 18,000 in Autzen, Read’s final home game was a 28-17 loss. It was a testimony to the state of the sport in Eugene that nobody really cared. Read was fired a week later.
• 1987 – Oregon was 4-2 in Bill Musgrave’s freshman year, and although some of the bloom came off the Rose the previous week (a 41-10 loss to UCLA, where Oregon lost its first national ranking in 16 seasons), the ‘87 campaign could still have lead somewhere. Their upcoming opponents, other than ASU, were mired in losing seasons. This included Stanford, at 2-4. If the Ducks could get to 8-3, they’d see that first bowl bid since 1963. And, again, the stats were solidly on their side – outgaining the Cardinal 332-185, controlling the clock.
  But as usual, Oregon killed itself against the Tree, with four turnovers – three in Stanford’s red zone. And when Brad Muster scored from the three yard line with 39 seconds left, giving the home team a 13-10 victory, you could hear the air coming out of Oregon’s season all the way from Palo Alto. The Ducks managed wins over lowly Wazzu and OSU to finish at 6-5, but there would be no bowl in 1987.
• 1989 – On the Farm again, and another heartbreaking loss. Oregon was 2-0 and coming off a shocking 44-6 victory at Iowa. Stanford was 0-2, on a seven game losing streak, and had just lost to Oregon State for only the third time in twenty years. Feeling their oats, Duck fans bought up shirts that said “RESPECT – DEMAND IT!” Unfortunately, respect must be earned … and this year Oregon didn’t earn any from the Cardinal, blowing a 17 point fourth quarter lead and losing on a last-second field goal, 18-17. At least this loss didn’t keep Oregon out of post-season play, but the then-unproven-as-a-bowl-team Ducks might have looked much more attractive to games other than the Independence Bowl at 9-2 than they did at 8-3.
• 1993 – One of the most snake-bitten teams in Oregon history still had an outside chance at a bowl bid, but only if it could get past Stanford and OSU in its last two games. It couldn’t. Stanford came into Autzen, ran out to a 22 point lead and held on for a 38-34 upset victory behind QB Steve Stenstrom, who lit up the beleaguered Oregon secondary for 407 yards, leading to boos and catcalls from the home fans, and more calls for Rich Brooks to be replaced.
• 1995 – There was no way to know this at the time, but the late September upset of the #12 Ducks , 28-21, in Autzen by Ty Willingham’s Stanford team kept Oregon from repeating as conference champions. The Ducks only lost one other conference game in 1995 (to ASU); if they’d beaten Stanford, they would have been 7-1 and jumped over USC and Washington in the league standings. (Yes, the same would be true if they’d beaten ASU. Sue me.)
• 2001 — An upset loss at Autzen to the Cardinal keeps Oregon out of the national championship game.
• 2010 — #4 Oregon gives #9 Stanford its only loss of the season, 52-31.
• 2011 — #7 Oregon gives #4 Stanford its only loss of the regular season, 53-30.
• 2012 — #18 Stanford returns the favor from the past two seasons, giving Oregon its first regular season loss in overtime and derailing the Ducks’ national championship hopes.

Now that’s a rivalry.

Today In Duck History: Sept 24

• Overall record on this date: 5-4.. Home record 4-3.
• Kellen Clemens, as usual, under pressure2005: Oregon dominated early, building a 13-0 lead but squandering opportunities for a bigger margin, then watched helplessly as Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and Lendale White led the Trojans to 45 unanswered points – including five second half TDs – and the Ducks fell 45-13 at Autzen Stadium. USC outgained the Ducks 593-262 and limited Oregon to just 104 second-half yards. The largest crowd in the history of Autzen (59129) saw Oregon QB Kellen Clemens hammered repeatedly in the second half. The win – later vacated by USC after the Reggie Bush scandal — was USC’s 25^th straight, tying school and Pac-10 records. It was Oregon’s only loss during the regular season.
  
  
   
• Danny O’Neil, 1995 Rose Bowl MVP1994: Senior QB Danny O’Neil spent all night Friday at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene being treated for an infected finger on his right hand. Intravenous antibiotics were being administered every four hours in an attempt to counter the infection. After receiving his last dose of meds at 7am, he was released though far from healed, and went straight to Autzen for breakfast with his team, who knew nothing of his injury. He later took advantage of a conservative game plan tailored by offensive coordinator Mike Bellotti to go easy on his throwing hand and lead the Ducks to a 40-18 win over Iowa. O’Neil only completed 7 of 17 passes for 74 yards, and the Ducks were outgained 421-279 but benefitted from four Iowa turnovers; Oregon started four possessions in Hawkeye territory in the first half, and scored touchdowns every time. After the game O’Neil passed up post-game celebrating to return to Sacred Heart to have his pinky finger drained. The win snapped a five-game losing streak against 1A competition, dating back to 1993, and the Ducks eventually won the conference and the 1995 Rose Bowl bid.
• Latin Berry, vs Wash, 19881988: Oregon FB Latin Berry scored the game’s only touchdown as the Ducks downed Stanford 7-3 in Autzen to remain undefeated. Rich Brooks quipped: “It was a great defensive game, if you’re into those kind of things.” His team had averaged 46 points over the first two games that season. Fans had to sweat out the 4^th quarter as star QB Bill Musgrave injured his ankle late in the 3^rd and did not return to the field after Berry’s three-yard plunge; Pete Nelson came in at quarterback and spent the last quarter handing the ball to Berry and Derek Loville. Xrays of Musgrave’s ankle indicated a bad sprain, and he sat out a game. The critical injury to Oregon’s greatest ginger signal caller came against Arizona State three weeks later, when a broken collarbone ruined everyone’s season.
• Lew Barnes, 19831983: The two-touchdown-underdog Ducks, coming off dismal efforts at home against Pacific and at Ohio State, knocked off Houston 15-14 at Autzen. The winning score came after an improbably series of events: Oregon QB Mike Jorgenson, facing 3^rd and 9 from the Houston 43, hit flanker Lew Barnes over the middle for a first down. But Barnes fumbled the ball at the 25. Tailback Kevin McCall attempted to dive on the fumble but he was simultaneously hit by a Houston defender, and the ball squirted straight towards the goal line, and tight end Doug Herman finally corralled the elusive prolate spheroid at the Houston 2. After a holding penalty on Houston, McCall took it in from the 1. The win was one of few bright spots in 1983 for the Ducks, who wound up 4-6-1, the tie being the infamous 0-0 “Toilet Bowl” Civil War.
• Brooks in an interesting blazer, 19771977: In the first home game for Rich Brooks as Oregon coach, the Ducks drew an optimistic crowd of over 30,000 couldn’t muster enough energy on offense to offset a punishing ground game by Wisconsin, and the Badgers stymied Oregon 22-10 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Wisconsin held the ball for the last 6:25 of the contest before topping off an 80-yard, 16 play drive with a one-yard TD run by Mike Morgan, after Roy Geiger had pulled the home team within five points with a field goal. “We counted on getting the ball back to go for the win,” Brooks responded to questioning about his decision not to go for it on fourth-and-six from the Badger 12. Wisconsin gashed the thin Oregon line for 291 yards on 61 carries. The loss was the first of eight straight for the young Ducks and their new head coach; their second win would come courtesy of Oregon State in the season finale.

• Leonard J. Casanova, Oregon HC 1966: Len Casanova’s last home opener as Oregon head coach, and the beginning of the last season at Hayward Field, was a letdown. The underdog Utah Redskins, predicted to finish last in the WAC and ten point underdogs, instead stunned the Ducks 17-14 behind halfback Ben Woodson and safety-turned-QB Jack Gehrke. Woodson’s fumble of the opening kickoff led to Oregon’s first touchdown, but the senior bounced back with a 30-yard TD run in the 2^nd quarter that gave Utah its first lead. Gehrke scored the winning points on a short run in the 3^rd quarter. Both of Oregon’s scores came on passes to tight end Steve Reina. It had been 14 years since Oregon lost its first two games in a season.
  
  
  

• Mickey Bruce, 19601960: Oregon put forth a pathetic effort in Ann Arbor, losing 21-0 to Michigan, and it wasn’t that close. Casanova summed it up: “That’s the worst football game we’ve played in a long time. We didn’t have any life, and we didn’t do anything right.” The Ducks only ran 51 plays, only crossed midfield once – on a Mickey Bruce interception at the Michigan 37 – and fumbled the ball away on the next play, and never ran more than five plays before punting. Oregon lost four starters to injuries including FB Bruce Snyder, end Paul Bauge, tackle Riley Mattson and guard Dave Urell. Oregon eked out 135 yards of offense, averaged barely two yards a carry and punted nine times. Line coach Jerry Frei: “We were even lousy in the warmup.” Only Mickey Bruce could have been happy about his play in this game; he looked impressive for a guy who the night before had been offered money by gamblers to help Michigan beat the point spread. The bad guys shouldn’t have bothered. The Ducks rebounded to finish the year 7-2, earning a Liberty Bowl bid in 1960 as a “Western Independent” following the implosion of the PCC.

• George Bell, 19491949: The Ducks since late 1947 had played like a runaway train, and a 41-0 romp over Idaho at Hayward Field gave no indication that the steamer was about to jump the tracks. The Vandals, coming off a 79-0 pummeling of Willamette in the season opener, only saw the Oregon side of the field once, on their first drive that stalled at the Duck 24, leading to a bizarre sequence of three turnovers in three plays. Quick-kicked back to their 7, Idaho fumbled; the ball was recovered on the Idaho 6 by Webfoots end Ray Lung. George Bell fumbled it right back on the Vandal 2; on the next play, Idaho’s QB fumbled again and Lung recovered again. Bell atoned for his mishap by diving in for the only score the Ducks would need. It was Oregon’s 17^th win in its last 19 games and the ninth straight regular-season victory, and was witnessed by 18,300 fans, a Hayward Field record. Bob Sanders ran for 122 yards on 14 carries and scored three TDs, Oregon outgained the Vandals 390-176, and the Ducks were thinking Rose Bowl. A loss the next week at UCLA put a damper on those thoughts. They finished the 1949 campaign with five straight losses, and a win over Washington State in October would be Aiken’s last conference victory; he was sacked after the 1950 season.
• Gerald “Tex” Oliver, 19381938: Every new head coach gets to change up the team’s uniform, and Tex Oliver went over the top with his new Ducks livery. A visiting team that runs onto the field wearing “canary yellow jerseys with green strips, gold pants with a green stripe, green and gold stockings and yellow and green helmets,” as described by one reporter, is going to get someone’s attention. Oregon had raided Arizona for a new head coach, bringing in Oliver, a West Point graduate and defensive mastermind, and the results were immediate and refreshing. The Webfoots knocked off Washington State in Pullman 10-2, employing a scheme on defense known as the “Oliver Twist”, essentially a 6-2-2-1 alignment with the linebackers and safeties playing a box formation that shifted with the play. The defense held the Cougars in check, but a hilarious miscue, and no particular effort by WSC, prevented a shutout: As the first half was ending, Oregon halfback Bob Smith intercepted a pass by WSC QB Paul Callow on the Oregon two yard line. Inexplicably, Smith stepped backwards into the end zone and downed the ball as the gun fired signaling the end of the half. Safety. The astonished crowed roared hoots of derision and laughter; Smith, realizing the error of his ways, began tearing his hair out in pantomime. “He thought he was behind the goal line when he caught the ball,” Oliver explained after the game, “so it wasn’t the bonehead play it looked like. Just one of those things.” The ‘38 Ducks ended the season a disappointing 4-5. Oliver coached the Webfoots for six seasons, and never had a winning record.

Oregon vs Colorado: A prehistoric series, part III

After a summer break, our series on the history of Ducks v Buffs continues with the 1967 contest that opened Autzen Stadium.

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Leo Harris and his monument to tenacity -- Autzen Stadium

Updated on June 11, 2011 by benzduck

The story of how a pit bull of an AD pulled off the seemingly impossible task of getting a new stadium built in Eugene, on a budget, while fighting his boss, the newspapers and local government.

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