**Editor’s Note: Each week during football season, we feature an essay from the opponent’s student newspaper on why Oregon will lose. This week’s edition is from David Cohn, the football columnist at the Stanford Daily.**

Unlike most of Oregon’s opponents so far, Stanford has a legitimate chance to beat the Ducks. While I am not prepared to guarantee a victory for the Cardinal, Stanford is more than capable of breaking hearts and dampening national championship hopes, simply because its style of play lends well to slowing down Oregon’s high-octane offense.

This game-plan, which Stanford executed masterfully in its upset of the Ducks last season, starts with applying pressure on Marcus Mariota. The Stanford defensive line will certainly miss Ben Gardner after the fifth-year senior was lost for the season with a pectoral injury; however, there is still an abundance of talent on the defensive line that is capable of making life difficult for Mariota, including Josh Mauro, who has been very productive this season with 37 tackles, seven tackles for loss and four sacks.

At outside linebacker, Trent Murphy has performed at a Bednarik Award-winning level this season, as the fifth-year senior has wreaked havoc on offensive lines all season long; the double teams that Murphy commands allow players like Mauro, Blake Lueders and Kevin Anderson to have great chances to “party in the backfield”, the phrase that has become a calling card for the Stanford defense

Finally, Stanford’s defensive leader Shayne Skov, when he is at his best, can elevate the Cardinal’s play not only with his immense talent, but also with his ability to glean a immense amount of information regarding an opponent’s play-call from the looks that he sees on the line. In addition, when it comes to recalling info from film, Skov is a savant, which means that he can act like a coach by helping his teammates get into their proper positions when Oregon inevitably goes into its frenetic pace and Stanford’s coaches have limited time to call in the desired defensive formation.

The second part of Stanford’s defensive game plan is actually executed when the Cardinal is on offense; more specifically, the Card can keep Mariota, Marshall, and others off the field and off the scoreboard by sustaining long drives with its power running game and physical offensive-line play. Stanford has traditionally relied on committee of running backs to wear down opponents’ defenses.

However, this season, star running back Tyler Gaffney has emerged the feature back, as he has the ability to accomplish this task largely on his own. Over the course of the season, Gaffney has averaged more than 110 yards per game on 21 carries per game. While Gaffney may not have the breakaway speed of Oregon’s talented running backs, he more than makes up for this fact with his ability to fight through contact and his knack for picking up crucial first downs on “third down and manageable”. As such, with the priority against Oregon being scoring points while controlling the time of possession, Gaffney is the ideal back.

Finally, Stanford’s offensive line, led by consensus All-American David Yankey, is among the most dominating lines in the country. The nickname of the Card’s offensive line, the “Tunnel Workers Union”, reflects the difficult, sometimes overlooked but nevertheless essential work that defines its role in Stanford’s offense. Not only has Stanford’s line helped fuel a strong running game, but they have also kept quarterback Kevin Hogan upright, yielding only nine sacks all season. As such, an opportunistic and aggressive Duck defense could have trouble forcing turnovers and getting off the field, if it is getting pushed around by the Cardinal’s offensive front instead of getting to Hogan.

Ultimately, if Stanford’s front seven can find its way to Mariota and Oregon’s backs in the backfield instead of the openfield, Tyler Gaffney can find running lanes behind solid offensive line play and Stanford can significantly control the time of possession, the Cardinal can pull the upset on the Ducks for the second consecutive year.