Upset Alert! Week 12

Week 12 in the college football season brings with it another Upset Alert! where we look at potential upsets that could shock and rock the college football landscape. With so many of the big schools facing off against inferior FCS squads, there aren’t many possible upsets to be found, but I’ve one big one that would definitely qualify. Let’s take a look at this matchup and see if there will be a big upset this week!

#2 Oregon Ducks

After enduring some BCS ranking debacles in recent weeks, the Ducks finally find themselves at number two and in prime position for a National Championship berth, but they are far from out of the woods yet. This week the mighty Ducks go up against a 13th ranked Stanford team that would love nothing more than to ruin Oregon’s dream season. There’s even more riding on this game, as Stanford actually has the opportunity to not only knock Oregon out of the title game, but they could also take the advantage in the Pac-12 North standings and keep Oregon out of the conference title game as well.

However to do it, the Cardinal will have to become the first team to figure out how to slow down Oregon’s high-flying offense. The Ducks are 3rd in the nation in total yards and first in scoring, putting up 54.8 points per game. Of course, this number could be quite larger, as the only game the Oregon starters played from beginning to end was the USC game, a game in which Oregon scored 61.

What Stanford does have going for it though is a strong defense, especially against the run, which is Oregon’s biggest strength. The Cardinal are only giving up 58.8 yard per game on the ground and 320 total yards per game. The Ducks have gashed them in the last two meetings for a total of 620 rushing yards in those contests combined, so Stanford is hoping the front seven they have this season will make a difference.

Offensively, Stanford is a middle-of-the-road type team, averaging 378 yards of total offense per game, but they do have a stellar running game with back Stepfan Taylor, who has already eclipsed 1000 yards this year.

We saw Cal basically take away the Oregon rushing attack last week, but then get burned through the air for around 400 yards. It’s pick your poison with Oregon and I don’t think the Cardinal have quite enough to pull it off. Although, I do think they match up better against Oregon than any team that’s played them thus far and that Stanford can cover the +20.5 spread this week. Consider this one upset averted.