Ducks lose No. 2 perch

EUGENE, Ore. — Jordan Williamson hit a 37-yard field goal in overtime and No. 13 Stanford upset No. 2 Oregon 17-14, denying the Ducks a chance to clinch the Pacific-12 North and derailing their direct shot at the BCS title game.

If both Stanford and Oregon win in their final games next weekend, both will fin-ish with one conference loss, which means Stanford will win the head-to-head matchup and go to the Pac-12 championship for a chance to play in the Rose Bowl.

Stanford (9-2, 7-1) will visit No. 17 UCLA, which defeated No. 18 USC 38-28 earlier in the day to claim the Pac-12 South. Oregon (10-1, 7-1) will play rival Oregon State in the annual Civil War rivalry game in Corvallis.

The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Ducks,which was the longest in the nation coming into Saturday. It was Stanford’s fifth consecutive victory.

Oregon’s loss, coupled with No. 1 Kansas State’s loss to Baylor, means Notre Dame is now the lone unbeaten team in the race for the BCS title game.

The Fighting Irish control their national championship run, with No. 4 Alabama and a couple of other SEC teams also in the thick of it.

Oregon was the only Pac-12 team that Stanford hadn’t defeated over the past two seasons. But the Cardinal’s tough defense smothered the nation’s highest-scoring team.

Alejandro Maldonado missed a 41-yard field goal for the Ducks to open overtime.

Redshirt freshman Kevin Hogan threw for 211 yards and a game-tying fourth-quarter touchdown for Stanford, while Stepfan Taylor rushed for 161 yards on 33 carries.

Down 14-7, Stanford went for it on fourth-and-1 on the Oregon 12 with 2:17 left in regulation and Ryan Hewitt ran for the first down. Hogan hit Zach Ertz with a 10-yard scoring pass to tie it at 14 with 1:35 to go. Ertz fought to gain control of the ball with a defender as he fell to the turf on top of a Ducks player. The play was initially ruled incomplete, but a videoreview overturned it for the game-tying touchdown.

A pass interference call gave Oregon a crucial first down, but the Ducks were forced to punt on the ensuing series and Stanford took over with 36 seconds to go and the game went to overtime.

The Cardinal had the nation’s best run defense going into the game, allowing an average of 54.8 yards a game. Oregon meanwhile, had the country’s third-best rushing offense, averaging 325 yards a game.

Stanford held Ducks running back Kenjon Barner, who was averaging 136 yards rushing a game, to just 66 yards.