Oregon Football: 3 bold predictions for home tilt against Stanford

Oregon football hosts the Stanford Cardinal in a game with major conference implications. Can the Ducks hold serve at home?

Stanford and Oregon face off in a matchup that puts the Pac-12 Conference on primetime television. Kirk Herbstreit and the crew on ABC will get the call with an 8 p.m. ET kickoff. Both squads are 3-0 heading into Week 4. The Cardinal are a one-point favorite per most betting lines, even though they’re on the road.

Stanford is also the favorite per the S&P+ as the Cardinal are ranked 27th overall while Oregon is ranked 32nd. Stanford coach David Shaw has the big game experience edge over Mario Cristobal. Cristobal’s only other head coaching experience came while he was the CEO of the FIU Golden Panthers.

Shaw has massed a 76-22 record as the head coach at Stanford taking the Cardinal to a bowl in each of his seven seasons.  Cristobal is only 29-48 as a head coach but FIU was in a state of disrepair when Mario took over and he took the Panthers to three bowl games during his tenure in Miami.

The crowd could get a little wild at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon as it’s been a while since the Ducks have been a viable candidate to win the Pac-12 North. Stanford is no rookie when it comes to big games and high expectations. Cristobal has been an assistant in big games with both the Miami Hurricanes and Alabama Crimson Tide but not a game of this level as a CEO of a program.

Here are my three bold predictions for the Cardinal versus the Ducks.