5 takeaways from No. 9 Oregon Ducks' football victory against Stanford Cardinal

STANFORD — The No. 9 Oregon football team will go into its bye week undefeated and eager for its upcoming showdown with No. 7 Washington on Oct. 14.

Two weeks into Pac-12 play, the Ducks have yet to be tested.

They certainly weren’t on Saturday in a 42-6 victory against Stanford in front of a largely green- and yellow-clad crowd of 32,160 at Stanford Stadium.

After a sluggish start on both sides of the ball led to a 6-0 deficit, Oregon (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) scored 42-unanswered and had its way with the Cardinal (1-4, 0-3).

“Overall I think our players came to perform today,” coach Dan Lanning said.

Here are five takeaways from the Ducks’ convincing win in what has been an otherwise competitive rivalry with Stanford for two decades.

Bo Nix, Oregon's offense erupt after slow start

The Ducks ran three plays for six yards in the first quarter and their first first down of the game didn’t come until the 9:25 mark of the second quarter.

Then the cork came off the bottle.

Bo Nix threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns on 27-of-32 passing and the Ducks amassed 500 yards off offense over the final three quarters to turn the game into Oregon’s fourth uncontested victory of the season.

“They weren’t really doing anything we haven’t ever seen, and they didn’t reinvent the wheel or anything,” Nix said of the slow start. “We just had to get settled in.”

All four of Nix’s TD pass — giving him 15 on the season — came in the second half, which started with the Ducks leading 14-6.

“I feel like everyone contributed today,” Nix said. “Everybody played a key role and the ball was just being spit out to a bunch of different people.”

Down in numbers, Oregon’s running backs still thrive

One of the storylines coming into the game was the loss of No. 2 running back Noah Whittington, a reliable and productive member of the offensive backfield who is out for a few weeks with an undisclosed injury.

The Ducks’ ground game was still plenty productive.

Starter Bucky Irving rushed 13 times for 88 yards and a 17-yard touchdown, and Jordan James, who took over for Whittington as the primary backup, rushed six times for 88 yards and a 30-yard touchdown.

“Jordan James, when he touches the ball, he wants to score,” Lanning said. “So he ran hard, he’s a physical runner, he’s proven he can get north and south and he did a good job of that today.”

Both rushing scores came in the second quarter for the Ducks’ only points of the first half.

Overall, Oregon rushed for 208 yards on 28 carries.

Defense responds to slow start as well

For the fourth time in five games the Oregon defense allowed seven or fewer points in the first half, and for the third time they allowed seven or fewer points for the entire game.

But they struggled to get off the field in the first quarter as the Cardinal racked up 102 yards on 26 plays while possessing the ball for 13:37.

On the first play of the second quarter, Stanford kicked its second field of the game to go up 6-0.

The Cardinal wouldn’t score again as the Ducks held them to 120 yards on 44 plays over the final three quarters.

A week after getting seven sacks against Colorado, Oregon registered five on Saturday and had 11 tackles overall that went for a loss of yards.

“It was obviously a really strong response from us,” said safety Evan Williams, who had seven tackles and a sack. “They threw everything they had at us in the first couple drives. We knew we were going to see an exotic game plan in the first 10 plays at least. … It definitely felt like the game slowed down after those first two drives. We were able to settle in and guys were able to make plays and just play fast.”

Welcome home Troy Franklin

The Oregon wide receiver and East Palo Alto native grew up near Stanford Stadium.

He returned home Saturday and put on a show, with seven catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

It was his fourth 100-yard game and third two-touchdown game this season.

“I feel pretty good, you know?” Franklin said. “Got the good win, came home and got perform in front of some family and friends, so that was pretty cool.”

Both of Franklin's touchdowns came in the third quarter, starting with a 46-yarder at the 8:54 mark that put Oregon up 28-6.

His second came with 1:43 left in the quarter on a 5-yard pass from Nix to make it 35-6 Ducks.

Franklin now has 11 touchdown catches in his last eight games.

“Troy’s strengths are really good,” Nix said. “He’s great in one-on-one situations. He just finds a way somehow to make that explosive play."

Ducks’ defense down a few starters

Oregon was without one defensive starter at kickoff as safety Bryan Addison didn’t appear to make the trip to Stanford.

By the start of the second half, the Ducks were missing two other starters.

Defensive tackle Popo Aumavae was limited Saturday and wasn’t seen during pregame warmups. Though he didn’t start for the first time this season, he did get into the game in the first half but then was in street clothes on the sideline in the second half.

Cornerback Khyree Jackson limped off the field late in the first half and after spending some time with medical staff and riding the stationary bike on the sideline, he eventually went into the locker room early before the half and didn’t play again.

Jackson had one of the Ducks’ five sacks before leaving the game.

Asked after the game specifically about an update on the health of Jackson and Aumavae, Lanning said, “I don’t completely know yet. We’ll have to get with medical staff to figure out exactly where they’re at. Like I said, strength in numbers showed up today. We had some guys go in there and contribute.”

Tysheem Johnson started at safety and made six tackles and had one pass breakup. Taki Taimani started at defensive tackle and also had six tackles, including one for a loss of one yard.

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: What we learned from No. 9 Oregon football's rout of Stanford