STANFORD, California — Stanford's Tyler Gaffney ran for 157 yards as the Cardinal hammered Oregon for three quarters, then held off a furious rally by the Ducks to win 26-20 Thursday and crush Oregon's national title hopes for a second straight season. Also Thursday, Baylor passed its first big test of the season with a 41-12 win over Oklahoma. Stanford's Kevin Hogan ran for a touchdown and played a mistake-free game as the Cardinal put on a clinic in how to play keepings off against a team that was averaging 55.6 points. Stanford ran for 274 yards and held the ball for 42-1/2 minutes. Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota was inaccurate and under pressure much of the night, but he threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, sandwiched around a blocked field goal return for a score by Rodney Hardrick, to pull the Ducks to 26-20 with 2:12 left. Oregon couldn't recover a second onside kick and Stanford ran out the clock. The biggest winner from the result was Florida State, who do not have to worry about the Ducks nudging them out of second place in the BCS standings. Now, Florida State faces a manageable remaining schedule with a good chance to win its way to the BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl in January. Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more while Shock Linwood ran for 182 yards as the Bears improved to an 8-0 record for the first time. Baylor scored twice in the final minute before halftime and stretched its school-record winning streak to 12 games since a loss at Oklahoma last November. Even though Baylor came in leading the nation in scoring (64 points per game) and total offense (718 yards per game) — and was outscoring opponents by an average margin of 48 points — many questioned how good the Bears were after getting into November without playing a ranked opponent. They have now, and they responded with an impressive victory against a team that used to routinely overwhelm them. Oklahoma has lost only two of 23 games against Baylor but the defeats were on the past two visits to Floyd Casey Stadium for prime-time games. — AP
