Maybe - in the aftermath of Oregon's 52-31 victory over Stanford at Autzen Stadium on Saturday - opposing coaches are going to have to game plan unconventionally: "Whatever we do, do not - repeat; do not - get an early lead on these guys."
For the third time this season Oregon spotted the opposition a double digit first half lead, then buried them with a flurry of touchdowns to win going away.
Saturday's highly anticipated match-up between the 4th ranked Ducks and the 9th ranked Cardinal lived up to the hype from the start. Winning the coin flip, Oregon took the ball and marched the length of the field but the drive stalled at the Stanford 5-yard line. Rob Beard's 22-yard field goal gave Oregon an early 3-0 lead.
For the rest of the quarter the Ducks cleverly baited Stanford into their trap, giving up three touchdowns in short order.
Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck engineered an eight play, 70 yard drive capped by an 18-yard touchdown pass to Griff Whalen to get Stanford on the board.
Oregon's Cliff Harris fumbled the subsequent kick return giving the Cardinal possession on the Oregon 12-yard and two plays later, Luck scrambled 10 yards for a 14-3 Stanford lead.
That lead quickly expanded to 21-3 when Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas was intercepted by Chase Thomas, giving Stanford the ball on the Duck 44-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Stepfan Taylor took Luck's hand-off, bounced off a pair of would be Oregon tacklers as he cleared the line of scrimmage then ran untouched to the end zone.
With the Cardinal suitably anesthetized, Oregon's offense went to work. Thomas found Jeffrey Maehl alone behind the Stanford defense for a 29-yard pitch and catch to cut the deficit to 21-10.
Rob Beard's perfectly executed on-side gave Oregon the ball again on their own 46-yard line and Thomas quickly shredded the Stanford defense, completing two passes to D.J. Davis and one to Josh Huff, setting the stage for LaMichael James' 5-yard scoring burst.
Oregon had included the on-side kick in the game plan after watching Stanford's kick return scheme on tape. "When we saw that look (on Stanford's earlier return)," Kelly said, "(Special teams) Coach Osborne asked me if we wanted to go for it, and I said, 'Yeah.'"
But Stanford's Luck responded with a 7-play, 87 yard scoring drive to push the Cardinal lead back to 11 points, 28-17.
Once again, however, Thomas found a receiver behind the Stanford defense, throwing a perfect strike to Josh Huff in stride for a 41-yard score.
Stanford added a field goal as the second quarter expired to take a 31-24 lead into the break, never suspecting their day was as good as done.
Thomas' 6-yard keeper tied the score with Oregon's first possession of the second half.
Now it was the defense's turn. After Luck completed a pass to Chris Owusu, moving the Cardinal to midfield, Oregon's Javis Lewis knocked the ball loose allowing Eddie Pleasant to scoop the ball off the carpet and return it to the Oregon three before Luck could force him out of bounds. James took it in from there to give the Ducks their first lead of the day, 38-31.
Thomas and D.J. Davis connected for a 25-yard touchdown pass to open the fourth quarter.
The defense continued to shine as the second half wore on. A goal line stand ended Stanford's next possession; Cliff Harris' interception of Luck in Oregon's end zone - his second pick of the day - halted their next drive, effectively ending any chance of a Stanford comeback.
Three plays later, James bolted untouched for 76-yards - the longest touchdown run of his career - to put an exclamation point on Oregon's day.
The stat sheet reflected the potent nature of both offenses. Oregon gained 626 total yards on the day, Thomas going 20-29 for 238 yards and three TD's, and add 117 ruching yards and another score. LaMichael James found pay dirt three times with 257 yards on 31 carries.
Despite being shut out in the second half and getting a short field for two of their touchdowns, Stanford gained 518 total yards and Luck lived up to his reputation as one of the nations best quarterbacks, completing 29-46 for 341 yards and two scores.
Both Thomas and Luck were intercepted twice and each team lost a fumble.
"We came out a little jittery," said Thomas when asked about the early deficit. "Everybody was too hyped. Once we calmed down, got back to regular football and we got back to doing what we do best."
"Stanford's a good football team, it's a long football game," was head coach Chip Kelly's succinct response to the same question.
"Our defensive staff did a great job making adjustments (in the second half)," Kelly said. ". Then with our tempo and our speed, it is just a matter of time before we wear teams out."
So if those early deficits aren't necessarily part of the game plan, they surely play to Oregon's advantage. The Ducks have allowed one second half touchdown in their five games this season while scoring 114 points of their own after listening to Kelly's halftime speech.
"I told our guys at halftime, what an exciting game to be involved in," Kelly said. ". all they had to do was be caught in the act of being themselves. That means just go out and do what you do. And that was it. I didn't raise my voice. I didn't have to yell . Now let's go out and finish."
As Tennessee and Arizona State found before them, the Cardinal didn't have a chance and Oregon improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Pac-10.
The Ducks travel to Washington State next Saturday before returning to Autzen after a bye week to face UCLA on Thursday, October 16.
