Early Primer: Stanford

Moving along we are right into week two of the conference schedule for Oregon. As we know Oregon opens up with Deion Sanders and Colorado in September. Which, as I wrote, I expect Oregon to win big and roll it up on the Buffs.

The next opponent for Dan Lanning and Ducks however will be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season. Stanford has a new coach who has them rolling on the recruiting trail in 2024. Unfortunately that doesn’t help Troy Taylor now. The cupboards are a little empty in Palo Alto with David Shaw kind of just “packing it in” the past few years. At least that’s how I feel.

But, Oregon has always had problems at Stanford and it’s going to be tough to have much film on them this early in the season. So let’s take a closer look at Oregon’s fifth game on the 2023 schedule.

What to Expect:

A couple things for me in this game that give me brief pause. By no means am I going to sell you on the notion Oregon loses this game. And when the betting lines come out, I expect Oregon to be favored by roughly 21 points.

The dangerous part about this game is that there are three dangerous parts. For starters, first road game in conference play. Now of course Oregon heads to Lubbock in week two, but that will be a different vibe. Still dangerous, but different.

I’m not going to sell you on Colorado being a big threat to Oregon, but I do think the Ducks will put an emphasis on beating the Buffs. Which means there could be a lack of focus on Stanford, which gives me some ‘trap game’ vibes. Again, not that Oregon will lose, but a slow start here wouldn’t surprise me.

Stanford meanwhile plays USC in week two, and can kind of ‘gear up’ for Oregon after that.

Conclusion:

Again, I’m not selling this as an Oregon loss. But I do think there is reason to see this game close (r) at half than we might expect. I could see Oregon still winning big with a surge in the second half. Stanford doesn’t have the talent nor the depth to hang with Oregon for 60 minutes.

The relatively safe and hopeful assumption here is Oregon finishes this game and moves to 5-0 on the season. And just maybe Texas Tech starts creeping inside the top 25 distancing themselves from the week two Oregon loss. With those two pieces in place this is where Oregon, should they be playing well enough starts to climb up the polls.

My favorite thing about this game is this.

Oregon should win and hopefully escapes with minimal injuries and a perfect record. Then they get a needed bye week to nurse any nagging injuries, review a ton of film and of course, get ready for the Huskies.

This becomes a pivotal week for Oregon. Two (likely) undefeated teams that hate each other with true passion, and you get a week off and two weeks to prepare for. This is a turning point in the season for Oregon for this team and media to really understand what the Ducks are this year.

Despite it being a road game two weeks in a row, Stanford then Washington, this is a chance for the Ducks to push well inside the top ten and begin to ‘control their own destiny’ the rest of the season.