Cardinal bring high-flying Ducks back to earth

STANFORD, Calif. — Toby Gerhart and Stanford did to the Oregon defense what the Ducks did a week ago to Southern California, opening up the Pac-10 race with a program-defining win.

Gerhart ran for a school-record 223 yards and three scores, Andrew Luck threw for two touchdowns and Stanford held on to beat No. 7 Oregon 51-42 Saturday to become bowl eligible for the first time in eight years.

"This was definitely my biggest win since I've been here at Stanford," Gerhart said, ranking it ahead of the victory over No. 2 USC two years ago.

"I think it's definitely bigger than the USC win because it gets us to that bowl game. All our seniors, the goal coming in was to be a bowl team. This was by far the biggest win. The students storming the field, that was an awesome feeling."

Stanford had lost in its past five games with a chance to become eligible for a bowl and now is in position to play a postseason game for the first time since 2001 after snapping a seven-game losing streak to the Ducks.

The loss by Oregon (7-2, 5-1 Pac-10) just a week after gaining 613 yards in a 47-20 win over USC cost the Ducks any shot at a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game and took away any margin for error if they want to win the conference outright.

Oregon rallied with two late touchdowns to cut a 20-point lead down to six, but Stanford (6-3, 5-2) recovered an onside kick with 2:38 to go and tacked on Nate Whitaker's third field goal with 11 seconds left to seal the win.