Oregon’s Defense Shuts Stanford Down, Out, 31-0

In recent years, Stanford-Oregon football games have gone down to the wire.

But Saturday, Sean Burwell rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns as Oregon romped past the Cardinal, 31-0.

“The defense played super football,” Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said. “They controlled the football game.”

Oregon, 6-2 overall and 2-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference, didn’t let Stanford (2-6, 1-4) move the football beyond the Ducks’ 34 yard.

The last three times the two teams met, the games were decided by a combined eight points. Last season, Oregon blew a 17-point lead in the final seven minutes in an 18-17 loss.

The only time the Oregon fans were irritated Saturday was at halftime, when the always irreverent Stanford band put on a show featuring a crazed lumberjack and a spotted owl. The humor was not appreciated in the heart of timber country, where a battle to preserve the rare owl is being blamed for the depressed state of the wood products industry.

Stanford hasn’t won since upsetting Notre Dame three weeks ago.

“We’re pretty disappointed,” Stanford Coach Dennis Green said. “We wanted our running game to be a factor. We didn’t have any sacks. We couldn’t get anything going.”