I feel the same way.I am actually not worried. Cant say why for sure, just have that feeling that all the work that the ducks
have put in has been geared to beating Stanford. They bulked up over the off season to beat Stanford.
Oregon has more weapons this year and are playing at a high level. Marcus is healthy and the fans will
be as always crazy. Stanford is built to get a lead and keep the ball away. Maybe not as much but you know
Shaw knows just how quick the ducks can score, so i think Oregon needs to move the ball early and score early.
This Oregon team is bigger at RB and receiver, and we haven't given up any speed. We're a lot more sure-handed than we were last season... Marshall and Freeman have such good ball security, so Stanford isn't likely to be bailed out with fumbles deep in the redzone... and Marcus will be playing on TWO healthy legs, so he'll actually be able to take off and run, which he couldn't do last year (and we still moved the ball pretty well, but we committed too many offensive mistakes/turnovers to keep it close).
The other big difference is our passing game. It's just better this year. In fact, it's probably the best I've ever seen it. During the WSU game, when our O-line was at its worst, WSU tried to beat us by bringing serious heat, stuffing the run game and forcing Mariota to make super-quick throws... which he did, and we won. Last year or the year before, I'm not sure he'd have been able to make those quick throws... our receivers this year (Marshall included) have been surprisingly good. Stanford won't be able to focus on bottling up the run and Mariota as they've done the past two years.... they'll HAVE to respect the pass, or Marcus will eat them alive.
Plus, if we could pound the rock so well against that talented UW front seven, then I'm confident we'll have similar results against Stanford. Overall, Stanford's D is better, but that interior UW defense was no slouch.