Oregon: 2013 Fiesta Bowl Champions

Oregon defeated Kansas State 35-17 in the Fiesta Bowl tonight in Glendale, Ariz., to finish with a 12-1 record and seal their second consecutive season that ends with a victory in a BCS bowl. It marked the Ducks' third consecutive season - and third time in UO history - to win 12 games.

As the clock wound down inside University of Phoenix Stadium, Oregon fans chanted, "We want Chip!" and "One more year!" 

Top performance: Oregon redshirt freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota completed 12 of 24 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns en route to being named the game's offensive most valuable player. De’Anthony Thomas returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown and caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Mariota in the third quarter.

Key contributors: Oregon running back Kenjon Barner rushed for 142 yards on 29 carries. Michael Clay was named the game's defensive most valuable player.

Key sequence: Kansas State went on a strong drive near the end of the first half while down 15-10 only to miss a 40-yard field goal with about a minute remaining. Oregon,which had struggled on offense to that point, then drove 77 yards on five plays in 46 seconds and scored on a 24-yard pass from Mariota to Barner to make the score 22-10.

It was over when: Oregon drove 61 yards in seven plays, scoring on a two-yard run by Mariota to make the score 32-10 following a blocked extra point recovered by KSU and then run into its end zone for a rare PAT, one-point safety.

They said it: "If for some reason some teams want to talk to me it's because of those players over there," Chip Kelly in an on-field interview after the game when asked about whether he has interest in NFL head coaching jobs. 

What's Next For Stanford?

What's next for Stanford after Rose Bowl win By Jon Wilner jwilner@mercurynews.com San Jose Mercury News Posted:

MercuryNews.com

LOS ANGELES -- Expect more of the same from Stanford next season -- more hit-and-miss offense, more immovable defense, more close games and more victories.

The number of wins, and Stanford's position in the preseason polls, depends partly on how many juniors enter the NFL draft.

Tight ends Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo, linebackers Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy and defensive end Ben Gardner will evaluate their draft prospects and decide in the next 10 days.

Ertz, a potential first-round pick who is on track to graduate this spring, is expected to depart. Toilolo, an intriguing pro prospect at 6-foot-8, might not be far behind.

Stanford also will lose a handful of key seniors from an offense that ranked 69th in the nation in scoring and sputtered in the second half of Tuesday's 20-14 victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

Without record-setting tailback Stepfan Taylor, center Sam Schwartzstein and starting receivers Drew Terrell and Jamal-Rashad Patterson, the Cardinal must find a new group of playmakers to complement quarterback Kevin Hogan, who will be a sophomore next season.

Taylor and Ertz scored half of Stanford's offensive touchdowns and accounted for the majority of its clutch plays.

"We'll get back to the running back-by-committee approach until somebody establishes himself as our workhorse," offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton said.

The line should be an elite unit given the four returning starters and presumptive development of several talented freshmen.

That should make life easier for Hogan, who was 5-0 as a starter but must polish his passing skills.

"There's no reason they're not one of the best lines in the country," Ertz said. "They'll blend well because they're all good friends off the field. It will be something special to see."

The same should be true of a defense that didn't allow a point in the fourth quarter of the final six games, especially if Skov, Murphy and Gardner return to school.

Stanford loses only one senior from the group that started the Rose Bowl: outside linebacker Chase Thomas.

Thomas is a significant loss -- his contributions as a playmaker and outspoken voice in the locker room have been invaluable the past two seasons. But Stanford is loaded with young talent on every level of the defense.

One candidate to replace Thomas is Noor Davis, a freshman who picked Stanford over ... Alabama.

"We don't rebuild," Skov said. "We just replace."

• Stanford is 35-5 in the past three seasons.

• Cardinal coach David Shaw is the first African-American coach to win a Bowl Championship Series game. This is the 15th year of the BCS.

• The victory over Wisconsin improved Stanford's Rose Bowl record to 6-6-1.