Bo Nix throws 4 TD passes to lead No. 9 Oregon past Stanford 42-6

Updated Sep. 30, 2023 10:52 p.m. ET

Associated Press

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Once Oregon's offense got started, the Ducks couldn't be stopped.

Bo Nix threw touchdown passes on the first four drives of the second half and No. 9 Oregon shook off a shaky start by scoring TDs on six of seven possessions to beat Stanford 42-6 on Saturday.

“We started off a little slow, but we kicked it into gear,” coach Dan Lanning said. ”I thought our guys responded. We just had to get through that lull to start."

Oregon (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) took nearly 20 minutes to gain its initial first down of the game as the Ducks started off slowly after last week's emotional win over Colorado and with a showdown against No. 7 Washington coming in the next game.

But Oregon then took over the game from there against overmatched Stanford (1-4, 0-3) and avoided a repeat of a slipup here similar to the one two years ago.

Nix completed 27 of 32 passes for 290 yards, putting the game out of reach in the third quarter. He hit Terrance Ferguson on 10-yarder on fourth down on the first drive, Troy Franklin on a 46-yarder on the next drive and then threw a 5-yarder to Franklin to make it 35-6. He added a 9-yard touchdown pass to Traeshon Holden in the fourth quarter.

“We just had to get settled in and find those things that worked against what they were doing," Nix said. “Once that happened, we put up a lot of stuff.”

That was too much for the Cardinal to overcome in their ninth straight loss to a ranked team — all by double digits — since that 31-24 win over No. 3 Oregon two years ago

“They’re explosive obviously,” coach Troy Taylor said. “Our defense did a really good job in the first half. You put an explosive offense on the field that much, they will make plays.”

Stanford played keep-away early from the Ducks to take a 6-0 lead when Joshua Karty kicked his second field goal of the game on the first play of the second quarter.

The Cardinal put together scoring drives of 15 and 13 plays and held Oregon to three-and-outs on the first two drives. The Ducks then put together back-to-back touchdown drives capped by a 30-yard run by Jordan James and an 18-yarder from Bucky Irving.

“They did some schematic changups early in the game, stuff we hadn’t seen from them before,” Lanning said. "We had to adapt to that and adjust our call sheet based on that. Then our our players using the long haul.”

Camden Lewis then missed a 38-yard field goal on the final play of the half to keep the score 14-6.

The Ducks defense did the rest, holding the Cardinal out of the end zone.

Justin Lamson started at quarterback and went 11 for 20 for 106 yards with 32 yards rushing on 22 carries with three sacks. Ashton Daniels came in for a few passing situations and went 3 for 4 for 27 yards with two sacks before leaving after a hard hit.

“We didn't put enough drives together in the second half,” Taylor said. “They were on the field a lot. You're playing with fire when you allow a team that is that talented to get as many opportunities in the second half.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Oregon: Once the Ducks got going, Stanford couldn't slow them down. Oregon had three plays for 6 yards in the first quarter and didn't gain its initial first down for more than 20 minutes of game action. The Ducks then ran 48 plays for 471 yards with six TDs on their next seven drives to take control.

Stanford: Taylor's first season on The Farm is off to a rough start as the Cardinal have lost four straight since an opening win at Hawaii. Stanford has lost seven straight and 17 of 18 conference games.

UP NEXT

Oregon: Visits No. 7 Washington on Oct. 14.

Stanford: Visits Colorado on Oct. 13.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll