**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 Winston Shi, a football beat reporter at the Stanford Daily. 

There have been points in the season where I thought that asking such a question would require outright homerism on my part. But Stanford still shows enough of what has made it so brilliant in the past that I can see the Cardinal beating the Ducks for the third time in a row. I broke down how Stanford could beat the Ducks last year, and I think that the principles I outlined still apply.

What are Oregon’s strengths? A dynamic return game; good defensive back play; a great run game; anything involving Marcus Mariota, really. Against these strengths, Stanford fields excellent punt and kickoff return defense (only 290 kickoff return yards and 77 punt return yards allowed all season); three tight ends that can present matchup nightmares for the Ducks’ back seven; and a pass rush that, while banged up, still utterly devastates teams not named, Notre Dame.

Much has been made of the return of Jake Fisher, but that still leaves multiple injuries on Oregon’s offensive line, and while defensive coordinator Lance Anderson has been forced to use more five-man blitzes to get pressure this year, Stanford should get to Mariota nonetheless.

Stanford’s O has not been up to scratch; even the Cardinal coaches will admit that. But can it get the job done? I definitely think so. After the loss at ASU, Stanford adjusted its offense to force the ball to the outside, with linemen pulling wide, screen passes, and more running backs in the passing game. That in turn, opened up the middle of the field for deep shots up the middle. Certainly Oregon State’s mistakes made Stanford’s offense look really good last week. But so far the tactics have been promising.

With talented (if mercurial) wideouts, tight ends and pass-catching backs, Stanford can score. The Cardinal O isn’t a secret: Give Kevin Hogan time in the pocket, and he’s got the weapons to march down the field. Pressure him, and he’ll likely make horrible decisions. And seeing as Don Pellum has been less willing to blitz than the great Nick Aliotti, I’m not convinced that Oregon is going to shut down the Stanford offense as convincingly as Arizona State did.

I’m not naïve enough to think that Stanford beating Oregon twice in a row means that the Cardinal have “solved” Oregon in any way, shape or form. And I won’t favor Stanford in my prediction – Oregon is probably a playoff team if the season ended today, while Stanford is unranked. As I write, Vegas favors the Ducks by 9.5 points; to be honest, given how Stanford has played this year, I can’t really disagree. But when the Cardinal put it all together, they are absolutely terrifying. I can definitely see Stanford beating Oregon in Autzen, and while that might knock the Pac-12 out of the inaugural College Football Playoff, it’s nevertheless something I would dearly love to see.

Contact Winston Shi at wshi94@stanford.edu.