I’m not sure Mario Cristobal himself could’ve scripted a better opening 30 minutes of football than the one we Saturday evening. His team simply took it to seventh-ranked Stanford in the first half, heading to intermission up 24-7.

During those 30 minutes, Cristobal's team lived up to his campaign promises. The Ducks were hard-nosed on the ground, efficient through the air, and stout as ever on defense. Perhaps most importantly, the Ducks played smart and clean football. These were the tenants Cristobal has attempted to instill in Eugene since taking the job in December. And there, on the biggest stage in several years, you saw all of it come together.

But, then the same inconsistent play that placed Oregon in a closer-than-necessary-game last week against San Jose State reared its head again, and suddenly, Cristobal's comeback story turned into a horror film.

Sadly, all of the horror film slashes were self-inflicted. Oregon made numerous costly errors to improbably lose the game.

"Unfortunately we shot ourselves in the foot a few times," said quarterback Justin Herbert. "We did everything we could to give Stanford the game. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out the way we wanted to. But, we're sticking together and not letting this define us."

Oregon was rocking on Saturday and recruits felt it

Two fumbles on three plays in the third quarter negated a sure-fire touchdown (the officials negated one as well, as we were all taught that the pylon is out-of-bounds), and resulted in a Stanford scoop-and score. Hello, 14-point swing.

Nursing a 3-point lead with 51 seconds remaining in regulation, freshman running back CJ Verdell coughed up the football in Stanford territory. Stanford would force overtime with a field goal, and win moments later. Nice to meet you, misery.

That misery tastes worse when you realize that Verdell, who lost the ball lunging forward, would've sealed the game with a first down. The taste is even more bitter when you consider that Oregon could've knelt on second and third down rather than run it, and punted it back to Stanford with about 8-10 seconds remaining.

"I think you could do a lot of things looking back on it," Cristobal said after the game. "We felt good about getting downhill with the run. So we did. We need to keep working on protecting the ball.

"We're going to be aggressive. It's aggressive, and in our eyes, when our offensive line is playing like it did against them, and you're knocking guys off the ball, you trust your guys to get it done. A lot of things could go a lot of different ways, and it's easy to second guess yourself after... but we're going to play football."

Ducks fall to Stanford in overtime

From the field, you could sense the air leaving the lungs of fans, bile collecting in their throats, as they made their ways for the exits. That's as gruesome a defeat as you'll experience in the sport. Now, put yourself in the cleats of the players who played, and eventually lost that game. Absolutely agonizing.

Doors slammed, and expletives were hollered, as the players filed into the locker room post-game. This team felt it.

"I think tomorrow's practice will show the true leaders of the team," nose guard Jordon Scott said. "The core of the team will come together. Once we go through meetings as a team, we'll flush it, and start preparing for Cal."

"We'll get back out there, and learn from it for sure," Herbert added.

This sets up what should be a season-defining game next week at California. It's hard to picture a more deflating way to lose a game.

Will this team fold? Or will they find the will to move on? That's the million dollar question.

One question that no longer needs to be asked is how talented this team is. This loss wasn't about talent. Oregon was the better football team. They completely outplayed the Cardinal. Looking at the stat sheet, it’s hard to find an area the Cardinal performed better. They gained more yards (346-327), dominated time of possession (36 minutes to 24 minutes), and they made more big plays. But there's no way to quantify a team's ability to finish football games.

The silver-lining here is that we know Oregon is good — possibly more than good. Bad teams don't manhandle top 10 teams with the entire country watching. Justin Herbert looked like the best quarterback in the country, Dillon Mitchell like one of the better wideouts to come through this program in years, and this defense about as bad as there's been in green and yellow. Now, it's a matter of finding out if this team can translate its talent into victories.