The No. 13 Stanford Cardinal survived No. 16 Oregon State 27-23 and must now visit the No. 2 Oregon Ducks in the Pacific-12 Game of the Century.

Oregon feasted on 8-2, 6-1 SU's rival 3-8, 2-6 California 59-17. The Ducks seemed content on beating the Golden Bears by a couple of scores, but once Cal got their nose in front of Oregon's the Ducks sped into a different gear igniting Cal with five consecutive touchdowns to close the game.

Oregon was casual during the first half finding pay dirt on two freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota passes to junior wide receiver Josh Huff and sophomore tight end Colt Lyerla as well as freshman running back Byron Marshall rumbling in from three yards away at the end of the first quarter. Once the Ducks turned on the afterburners the Bears could only watch and applaud. Mariota had four more TD passes, two more of which went to Huff and one more for Lyerla. Also reeling in TDs for Oregon during the second half was senior WR Will Murphy and freshman WR B.J. Kelley from sophomore QB Bryan Bennett at the very end of the contest.

Meanwhile the Cardinal looked early on like they were going to blowout the 7-2, 5-2 Beavers, but OSU whistled through 23 straight points before freshman QB Kevin Hogan came up big with TD throws to junior TE Zach Ertz and senior RB Stepfan Taylor. Hogan found junior fullback Ryan Hewitt for Stanford's second score during the first period after Taylor bulldozed his way in from a yard out.

The Cardinal are the No. 1 defense against the run and held OSU to 86 rushing yards while the Ducks are one of the best at running the football down your throat. Oregon however was bottled up for 180 rushing yards last week.

An Oregon win over SU could catapult the Ducks to the top of the BCS Standings. The Cardinal would love to end Oregon's shot at a perfect season especially since Stanford has been trounced the last two times they've seen the Ducks.

The Cardinal fell 52-31 at Autzen Stadium two years ago, a game in which SU held a sizeable lead. The Cardinal were also thumped by Oregon 53-30 last season. Stanford was 5-0 during 2011 away games routing four foes. The Cardinal began 0-2 on the road this year succumbing to No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 25 Washington 20-13 in overtime and 17-13.

Stanford's David Shaw switch in QB to Hogan has the Cardinal believing big. SU has No. 17 UCLA ahead on the schedule so the Cardinal could very well earn a spot in the Pacific-12 Conference Championship Game. All Stanford has to do is defeat the Ducks and best the 8-2, 5-2 Bruins.

Oregon is 6-0 this season at Autzen with 8-3, 6-1 Fresno State falling the closest 42-25. That's one of many Ducks' home games where Oregon has taken their foot off the accelerator. The Ducks destroyed two nationally ranked teams when they played them by an average of 40 points in Eugene this year.

In 2011 Oregon won their first five home games, two just by a pair of TDs. The Ducks seem to be even better than last season's club and would like very much to prevent another No. 18 Southern California debacle from happening. Oregon fell 38-35 on Nov. 19, 2011. The Ducks are in control of their destiny, but despite the Cardinal coming off an emotional win SU will hang around longer than California and get us our money's worth.