Another road win gives Ducks hope.

Byline: Ron Bellamy / The Register-Guard

STANFORD, Calif. - There were zeroes on the clock as the field-goal attempt fluttered toward the goalposts, dead-on straight, and it seemed that the ball hung in the overcast sky for an eternity, and certainly long enough for you to remember all the different ways the Ducks have had their hearts broken here over the years.

A couple of feet more, at most a yard, and Stanford's Michael Sgroi would have been money from 49 yards, and Oregon would have found itself in overtime Saturday afternoon, having to try again to win a football game that it seemed to have already won, and how different the stories and the moods might be today.

But the kick wasn't quite good enough, and the Ducks were just good enough, prevailing 16-13 before 33,250 on a gray, wet afternoon in Stanford Stadium, winning here for the first time since 1994 and for just the fourth time in their last 18 visits.

A decade ago, winning at Stanford was a step toward the Rose Bowl. If you suggested any such glorious fate for these Ducks, at 4-3 now, and 3-1 in the Pac-10, you'd be suspected of having indulged in too much chardonnay and brie at one of those Stanford tailgate parties, but this much is true:

Wherever the Ducks are going this season, they'd be going nowhere if they hadn't rallied to a pair of fourth-quarter comeback wins on the road, two weeks ago at Washington State and again on Saturday at Stanford.

In each, the margin was three points - 41-38 two weeks ago in Pullman - and the margin for error a few plays made or not made.

"Hopefully, this continues to buoy their confidence, and help them understand that we just need to finish every play," said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, who got the 100th victory of his head coaching career, at Oregon and Chico State, and who won at the only Pac-10 venue where he hadn't.

"The difference in this game can be inches - or feet, as it was today."

The difference was the Oregon defense, with an incredible 10 quarterback sacks. The difference was Bellotti's decision to go for it on fourth down, with 11:06 remaining and the Ducks, trailing 13-9, on the Stanford 38.

In a game in which they weren't very good on third downs, just 4-of-15, the Ducks hit that fourth down, quarterback Kellen Clemens connecting with an unexpected hero, senior wide receiver Keith Allen, to set up Oregon's winning touchdown.

Clemens, by the way, had been hit hard by Stanford on Oregon's last drive of the first half; hard enough that he told teammate Brady Leaf to keep an eye on him, though the quarterbacks seem to have kept that between themselves. It wasn't until after the game, Bellotti said, that Leaf mentioned that Clemens might have had a concussion.

"Concussion is a little bit of a stretch," Clemens said. "I'll say I got my bell rung. ... I told Brady to keep an eye on me. I came out of halftime feeling good, though. It was just a little pop."

The Ducks were 3-of-3 on fourth down conversions in the Washington State game; they were 2-of-3 Saturday, the two successes major factors in the win, the one failure - running back Terrence Whitehead stopped an inch short on fourth-and-inches with 16 seconds left at the Stanford 23, Bellotti not wanting to risk a 40-yard field goal attempt being blocked - allowing the Cardinal a stomach-twisting chance to tie at the end.

Of late, the Ducks have been dramatic, determined and resilient. They're overcoming their own mistakes; Whitehead lost a fumble late against WSU, and lost another Saturday, and both times the Oregon defense had his back. The Ducks are improving; only five penalties for 45 yards against Stanford, which at this point is progress.

"We're just starting to gel and become a team," linebacker Ramone Reed said. "Our win against Washington State was just the beginning. All along, from last summer, we knew how good we can be. We're still a long way from it. A win like that gives us confidence to go out to practice and see how good we can be.

"We're still curious how good we can be; it's surprising to us as players, as well as to the coaches."

You could have written the obit for the Oregon season if the Ducks had lost at Washington State; you could have predicted that Oregon's chance for a winning season might come down to the Civil War if the Ducks had lost to the Cardinal.

"The WSU game is the one that did it," Bellotti said. "We've been a different football team, attitudinally and practice-wise since that game. It infused a lot more fun and a lot more belief in the kids in what they could accomplish. I've seen it. ... They've been a lot looser in practice and they're enjoying their experience, and certainly I think that comeback win made it."

Now, the Ducks have two comeback wins, and on the road, no less. It's still hard to tell what kind of a future the Ducks have this season, but, remarkably, they still have one.

CAPTION(S):

Oregon's Terrence Whitehead accounted for 223 all-purpose yards and a touchdown in the Ducks' 16-13 victory over Stanford on Saturday.