No one will ever mistake Stanford’s offense for Oregon’s. As an offensive strategist, head coach David Shaw is to the right of Ayn Rand.

As he promised after last week’s loss at Arizona State, though, Shaw altered the offense to get his play-makers in better position to do some damage. Sure enough, the offense opened up Saturday against Oregon State.

The Cardinal used a no-huddle offense extensively, dumped more passes to the running backs and generally looked more energized. In their first game as an unranked team since the first week of the 2010 season, they trounced the Beavers 38-14 at Stanford Stadium.

There weren’t a lot of extra offensive linemen or even multiple-tight-end formations. There were a lot of four-wide-receiver plays. The Cardinal passed (30 times) almost as often as it ran (35). But don’t expect them to turn into an aerial show, particularly as they head next week to Oregon, where ball control will be critical.

“We’ll never completely scrap who we are and what we’ve done,’’ Shaw said. He still wants them to be a physical running team, but he evidently is not going to be so hide-bound about it.

Kevin Hogan threw scoring passes of 42 yards to freshman Christian McCaffrey and another of 37 yards to a player a full decade older, 29-year-old Jordan Pratt. Hogan shook off two interceptions to uncork a 37-yard touchdown run, throwing a stiff-arm at the last tackler at the 7-yard line.

“The tempo helps the quarterback,’’ Shaw said. “He likes it. The offensive line likes it, the receivers like it.’’

Ty Montgomery scored his first touchdown in nearly a month on a 50-yard punt return as Stanford (5-3, 3-2 Pac-12) built a 38-7 lead. The reserves surrendered a touchdown in the final minutes, but it was another stellar effort by one of the nation’s top defenses.

Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion, on his way to breaking former USC star Matt Barkley’s Pac-12 career passing yardage record, completed just 14 of 30 passes. His 122 yards were the fewest he has had in any start in his career.

Stanford’s six sacks dropped their rushing total to an anemic 12 yards. Oregon State (4-3, 1-3) had to travel just 17 yards for its first touchdown – on a 5-yard run by Chris Brown – following an interception by linebacker Michael Doctor.

Anticipating an all-out blitz, Hogan said, “I had to get to my hot receiver quickly, and they dropped someone (back) that I hadn’t expected to drop. It was a good call on their part.’’

His previous pass, also intended for Montgomery, was intercepted by safety Ryan Murphy. Following the Doctor pick, Hogan executed his own personal rally. After Barry Sanders ripped off a 27-yard run, which might have gone the distance if he hadn’t lost his footing, Hogan scored from 37 yards out on a read-option.

He stiff-armed Murphy at the 7-yard line to finish the longest run of his career. In the wake of the interceptions, he said, “I wouldn’t say I was angry but I wanted to make up for it and respond. It felt good to get in the end zone.’’

On the game’s opening drive, McCaffrey took a short pass over the middle, spun away from a defender and outraced another to the end zone. Early in the second quarter, Pratt scored the first touchdown of his career. A 1-yard plunge by Patrick Skov put Stanford up 28-7.

On the down side, Jordan Williamson missed a 26-yard field goal at the end of the first half, and Oregon State later blocked a Ben Rhyne punt. Having four scoring plays of 37 yards or longer, though, helped ease the pain of those mistakes.

“I’d love to march down the field six-seven yards at a time and pound somebody and run it in from the 2-yard line every time,’’ Shaw said. “But we’ve got some guys now that can score from a distance. … I think we put that on film today.’’

The Oregon Ducks no doubt will be watching closely.