Kevin Gemmell, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Pac-12 ultimate road trip: Week 11

We're taking a look at the best week-by-week trips to make in the Pac-12. My editors call it the Ultimate Road Trip. I call it dangling meat for you guys until we can start writing about actual games. Chow down, gang.

Welcome to Week 11.

Friday, Nov. 13

  • USC at Colorado

Saturday, Nov. 14

  • Utah at Arizona

  • Washington at Arizona State

  • Washington State at UCLA

  • Oregon at Stanford

  • Oregon State at California

My choice: Oregon at Stanford

Why: In 2009, this was the game to see. Same for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and even last season. Only two teams have won the Pac-12 championship since expansion. And if history holds, that could be the case in 2015.

Of course, the South Division -- with five heavy hitters -- wants us to think otherwise. And maybe this is the year a team from the South breaks through and wins the league. But either way, there's a good chance they'll have to go through one of these two teams. And it's likely it will be the winner of this game.

For those in need of a quick history lesson -- this game was an offensive buffet for a few seasons, with the winning team scoring at least 50 in '09 (Stanford), '10 (Oregon) and '11 (Oregon) and the loser scoring at least 30.

But the Cardinal flipped the script in the 2012 game with a defensive effort at Autzen that we'll still be talking about years from now (as well as Zach Ertz's catch). In 2013 -- Stanford's Tyler Gaffney turned in a workhorse effort (and we'd eventually learn Marcus Mariota had a bum knee), but the Cardinal dictated the rivalry in '12 and '13, holding the Ducks to just 14 and 20 points respectively with back-to-back wins.

Last year, it was no contest. The Ducks steamrolled the offensively challenged Cardinal 45-16 and reclaimed control of the division and league crown.

There are a lot of interesting elements to this game -- even in July before either team has taken a single snap in 2015. Kevin Hogan will be seeing the Ducks for the fourth time in his career, and he holds a 2-1 record against them. With Oregon changing quarterbacks, Stanford certainly has the edge there on experience. But a few months out, the question is how will Stanford's rebuilt defensive line hold up against Oregon's ground attack?

In 2012, the Cardinal limited the Ducks to 198 yards on the ground (77 of which came on one play) and a year later the Ducks rushed for just 62 yards. Keep an eye on Stanford's defensive line throughout the season. Their development could be a big indicator for how this rivalry game plays out in November.

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