They are still alive mathematically, but for all intents and purposes, Stanford's two-year reign at the top of the Pac-12 is over.

That's as much clarity as one can find regarding the Stanford Cardinal's remaining 2014 prospects. At 5-4, David Shaw's team needs one more win to qualify for a bowl game, but even that's not guaranteed at this point. Three dates remain, and they range from dangerous to difficult. Utah (6-2) visits first after this current bye week, and Stanford will follow that with trips to California (5-4) and UCLA (7-2).

Put simply, the 2014 tumble has not been kind to the Cardinal. They entered the season as the only team in the nation to have gone to a BCS bowl in each of the previous four seasons, but the home stretch has become a dogfight just to reach bowl eligibility.

Stanford was outplayed by Oregon, and now becoming eligible for a bowl game is not a given. AP Photo/Ryan Kang

Problems initially contaminated the offense, but with two significant injuries along the opposite line, struggles have now also infected the defense. Saturday's 45-16 drubbing at the hands of Oregon encapsulated almost everything that has gone sour for the Cardinal this season, their first with four losses since Andrew Luck's 2009 freshman campaign.

Offensive success in scoring range was again a problem: Stanford managed only 16 points despite 428 yards of total offense. The defense allowed 267 rushing yards, the highest conference total against it since UCLA racked up 284 yards in the 2012 Pac-12 title game. The absences of David Parry (limited, leg injury) and Aziz Shittu (out for the season) were apparent in that regard, as the Oregon trio of Royce Freeman, Thomas Tyner, and Marcus Mariota all ran through the Cardinal's hobbled unit with powerful purpose.

Yes, even the quarterback performed some bulldozing action with his legs.

In essence, Oregon's ground-and-pound success was a symbolic reversal from Stanford's big 26-20 win against the Ducks in 2013. That game was less than a calendar year ago: The Cardinal pounded the ball a staggering 66 times for 274 yards, and the Ducks were unable to stop the punishment.

The Stanford-Oregon football reality has been flipped upside down since then. This time around, Stanford had become the helpless victim of powerful running.

For most of the season, the team's defense had been suffocating (it still leads in the Pac-12 in all key statistical categories), but the recent problem has been rooted in those injuries along the front. The Cardinal have been forced to resort to 255-pound true freshman nose tackle Harrison Phillips before he's had a chance to bulk up for the position (Parry weighs more than 300 pounds). Against Oregon, nickelback Zach Hoffpauir's absence pushed another true freshman, Terrence Alexander, into a major role.

Mariota and the Ducks were too good. They finally overwhelmed Stanford's defense, which saw its streak of holding opponents under 30 points end at 31 games (this was more than twice as long as the second-longest streak in the nation).

An inverse problem is happening on offense. Stanford's lack of a power running back has prevented the team from pummeling its opponents on the ground. As soon as Oregon blasted into the end zone on its first drive, it was evident that the Ducks were the more physical football team. And that is quite the statement, considering how 2012 and 2013 went down.

The Cardinal's loss of their power running backbone has led to general inconsistency around an otherwise talented offense. There have been changes of approach and flashes of success (see the productive effort against Oregon State a week ago), but the team has never sustained a consistent scoring ability. In fact, Stanford's Pac-12 worst average of 24.7 points per game is the second-lowest of the Harbaugh-Shaw era, better only than 2007, its first year.

So, following four consecutive BCS-caliber seasons, all of these problems have added up to generally unspectacular play on the field, and Stanford is now fighting to salvage what's remaining of 2014. Despite the cracks that have damaged critical areas of the Cardinal's foundation, there is still a load of talent spread across the roster, so this home stretch of the season might be critically important to the program's confidence heading forward.

In the cyclical monster of college football, down seasons happen. But the difference between 5-7 and 7-5 is massive, and Stanford has now reached that pivotal fork in the road.