Stanford stuns No. 3 Oregon in overtime, upends Pac-12’s path to College Football Playoff

The Stanford Cardinal threw the Pac-12’s College Football Playoffs hope into disarray with a 31-24 overtime win over No. 3 Oregon. The Ducks held a 24-17 lead late in the game, but gave up a goal line fade to Elijah Harris to allow Stanford to tie things up. The Cardinal would win in overtime after Oregon couldn’t match Stanford’s touchdown.

The win throws Oregon’s College Football Playoff path, which looked amazing after a road win over Ohio State, off the rails. The Ducks’ loss does open the door for undefeated Cincinnati, even if the committee has a vendetta against Group of 5 teams. Oregon’s best chance to make the playoff now is to hope for losses across the board.

Stanford had just 5.0 yards per play today, but got 20-36 for 230 yards from quarterback Tanner McGee, while 35 rushes for 124 yards and zero turnovers was enough to get the job done.

It looks like Alabama and Georgia are going to be in the field, but two spots are still up for grabs. And a one-loss Pac-12 champion can still be put in if that champion looks convincing. The Ducks have a lot of work to do on that front, looking abysmal for long stretches of the loss to Stanford.

Stanford was an 8.5-point underdog at DraftKings Sportsbook, so this was a much bigger upset via the expectations rather than the spread.