Coming off a 156-rushing-yard performance against Arizona which included his first rushing touchdown of the year, sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey (above) will look to continue his run of success against No. 18 UCLA. (FRANK CHEN/The Stanford Daily)
No. 18 UCLA (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) vs. No. 15 Stanford (4-1, 3-0 Pac-12)
Michael Peterson: Stanford 35, UCLA 34
For the fifth time in six games, the Cardinal will face a first-year starter at quarterback, but UCLA’s Josh Rosen presents easily the toughest test of any of the quarterbacks Stanford has faced not named Cody Kessler. Even with some recent struggles, Rosen has been able to lean upon the talents of Paul Perkins, last year’s Pac-12 rushing leader, and Thomas Duarte and Jordan Payton, two of the better receivers in the conference, to lead UCLA to a 4-1 start. Another shootout seems to be in the making, and ultimately, UCLA’s trio of season-ending injuries on defense — to Myles Jack, Eddie Vanderdoes and Fabian Moreau — will help Stanford get the edge it needs to outlast UCLA in a back-and-forth battle that might just be decided by who has the ball last. Don’t discount the revenge factor, though: Stanford prevented UCLA from going to the Pac-12 Championship last year and Stanford, Rosen’s dream school, didn’t offer the quarterback for reasons which are somewhat unclear. I’ll take Stanford, but this one could easily go either way.
The Oregon Ducks football program is the intercollegiate football team for the University of Oregon located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the Football Bowl Subdivision and is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference...
