David Shaw led Stanford to a pair of wins over highly-ranked Oregon teams early in his coaching career, beating the Ducks when they were No. 1 in 2012 and No. 2 in 2013.

Stanford is hoping to recapture some of that magic when the unranked Cardinal hosts No. 3 Oregon Saturday at Stanford Stadium (12:30 p.m., ABC).

The winner of this game has represented the North in the Pac-12 championship game in seven of the past 10 years. Right now the frontrunner is Oregon (4-0, 1-0), whose win at Ohio State is the highlight of the season for the conference. Stanford (2-2, 1-1) is coming off a disappointing loss to UCLA in its home opener last week.

“Hopefully we can play our best game of the year this Saturday because it’s going to take that,” Shaw said.

The Cardinal will be honoring the program’s lone Heisman Trophy winner, Jim Plunkett, along with the 1970 and 1971 Rose Bowl champions and the school’s 2020 Tokyo Olympians, who captured 26 medals this summer.

Will being surrounded by so many champions rub off on Stanford?

“The loss on Saturday really hit hard for a lot of guys on the team,” senior tight end/defensive end Tucker Fisk said. “I think we all know that we are better than what we put on tape, so we’re just motivated and excited to show what we can do against a top-rated team like Oregon.”

Here is what Stanford needs to do to pull off another upset:

KEEP THE BALL

Oregon has forced an FBS-best 13 turnovers this season, including five interceptions last week against Arizona, and has outscored opponents 51-3 off turnovers. But Stanford sophomore QB Tanner McKee hasn’t turned the ball over yet this season and hasn’t thrown an interception in 109 collegiate pass attempts. Shaw said the key for McKee is that he’s a quick decision-maker with a quick release.

START RUNNING

Stepfan Taylor (161 yards in 2012) and Tyler Gaffney (157 yards in 2013) keyed previous upsets of Oregon. Can Nathaniel Peat fill that role on Saturday? Early returns aren’t promising. The speedster was the only scholarship running back available against UCLA, and he was held to 27 yards on 13 carries in his first start.

Austin Jones and Casey Filkins might be back from their undisclosed absences to at least back up Peat this week, but the run defense needs to stiffen up as well. Stanford is last in the conference in rushing defense (209.0) and now faces senior CJ Vardell, who is 134 yards away from 3,000 in his career.

CONTAINING THIBODEAUX

Oregon is plenty good even without Kayvon Thibodeaux, who missed the win at Ohio State with an ankle sprain. But he’s a potential No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, so there’s no doubt he will be a major factor if he’s healthy.

“(He’s) a combination of all the things you’re looking for a defensive player,” Shaw said. “He’s got size, he’s got length and he’s got explosion. It takes a big effort to handle a guy like that.”

It won’t help that Stanford will have to make a change to its offensive line for the first time this season.  Junior Jake Hornibrook will be starting in place of right guard Branson Bragg, who is out with an undisclosed injury.

GETTING PRESSURE

Stanford has its own disrupter in Thomas Booker. The senior preseason first-team all-conference defensive lineman posted a career-high 10 tackles and had 1.5 sacks against UCLA, including a 9-yard sack on third down that pushed the Bruins out of field goal range.

Booker has always excelled at run defense, so his emergence as a pass rusher bodes well for a unit that has struggled in the past against dual-threat QBs and now faces the conference’s top scoring team (38.8 points per game).

FAST START

Stanford went three-and-out on its first five drives on Saturday and trailed 21-7 at halftime. A repeat performance on offense would probably lead to an even bigger halftime deficit against the Ducks. It’s worth noting that the Cardinal is 79-7 under David Shaw when leading at halftime and 9-27 when trailing. The four games this season have followed that trend.