Ducks Only a Civil War Victory Away : Pacific 10: Oregon pounds Stanford, 55-21, and looks ahead to Oregon State.

The scent outside Oregon’s dressing room at Stanford Stadium on Saturday night was not of a sweet floral bouquet after the Ducks’ 55-21 victory over the Cardinal.

Roses, what roses?

“I smell (Oregon State) right now,” said Oregon flanker Cristin McLemore, who had five receptions for 88 yards and three touchdowns.

So what if the 15th-ranked Ducks are within one game of reaching the Rose Bowl, which would end a 37-year drought? Never mind that the three touchdown receptions established McLemore as the school’s all-time leader with 19, moving him past Ahmad Rashad and Lew Barnes. And that quarterback Danny O’Neil’s six touchdown passes established an Oregon record, falling one short of Mike Pagel’s Pacific 10 Conference record set for Arizona State in 1981 against Stanford.

All these accomplishments could be footnotes if Oregon’s magical ride somehow crashes and burns in a loss to Oregon State next week. After Saturday, Oregon, 8-3 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-10, is tied with USC atop the conference, but the Ducks maintain the tiebreaker edge since they beat USC earlier this season.

One game against a familiar nemesis stands between Oregon and a run for the roses.

“I’m tired of not saying it,” said O’Neil, who was 21 for 37 for 339 yards and six touchdowns. “I’m ready to go to the Rose Bowl. But if our team is not focused on Oregon State, understanding that they just beat Washington State soundly (21-3), they’re going to beat us and we’re going to go home crying.

“We’ll be hanging out in some other bowl.”

Said Oregon Coach Rich Brooks: “Now we’re down to focusing on one game. We can’t look ahead. We can’t look behind. There’s only one thing in front of us. I think it’s nice it’s the Civil War, the archrival game.

“They had a good game--to do that to Washington State’s defense--that’s a great win for Oregon State. If we needed a wake-up call, that was certainly it.”

But a somewhat jittery Scott Frost helped the Ducks stir right away. Frost led Stanford’s upset of Washington last week when he entered the game to replace starting quarterback Steve Stenstrom, but his first start was rather erratic with two interceptions.

Stenstrom, out for the season after breaking a finger on his passing hand in the first half against Washington, could only stand helplessly on the sideline, watching Frost throw an interception on the first play from scrimmage. Four plays later, O’Neil connected with McLemore on a 21-yard touchdown pass just 1:22 into the game.

Frost, who did score on a dazzling 28-yard run through a handful of tackles in the second quarter, wasn’t the total reason the Cardinal proved to be ineffective. The defense never got close enough to breathe on O’Neil.

“This is really the first time all year that we unraveled,” Stanford Coach Bill Walsh said.

Stanford (3-6-1, 2-5) did have one bright spot. Wide receiver Justin Armour had nine receptions for 131 yards and became the school’s all-time career yards receiving leader (2,459).

But the atmosphere at Stanford Stadium before 43,802 was more like an Oregon home game, as about 8,000 Duck fans made the trip to Palo Alto and took over one corner of the stadium. Afterward, the Oregon players ventured over to the corner and thanked their fans.

“It’s the final step,” Brooks said. “As a coach, it’s great to be in this position.”