Stanford at UCLA – Preview and Prediction
STANFORD 3 UCLA (46.5)
Implied Projected Score: Stanford 24.75 UCLA 21.75
MEGALOCKS LINE – Stanford 3
The Game
Death. Taxes. Stanford beating UCLA. Sure things. We think that is how the saying goes. The last time Stanford lost to UCLA was in 2008, and since that time, there have been a LOT of beatings dished out. UCLA will counter with a QB that has enormous potential and a very underrated defense. Game on.
The Match-Up
Stanford offense vs UCLA defense
Christian McCaffrey left. Right. Up the middle. To the left and then up the middle. How about a screen pass to McCaffrey ? UCLA HAS to come up with a way to stop him. CM leads the team in rushing (duh?) with 291 yards and is also the team leader in receptions with 11. Nobody else has more than 5. QB Ryan Burns has been quiet but very efficient. The Stanford offense is going to be hard to stop if they are constantly in third and short situations. CM ran for 4,000 yards against UCLA last season (need to check the stats) but we feel this is the best defense of the Jim Mora tenure. Stanford will not make mistakes so it will be up to UCLA to actually step up against the Cardinal on Saturday night. UCLA fans hope that the performance vs BYU (allowed only 25 yards rushing !, 4 sacks) is something to build upon for this yuuuuge game.
UCLA offense vs Stanford defense
We have only managed to watch one UCLA game so far (vs Texas AM) but feel like The Rosen One does not have much to work with on offense. We do not see the weapons at WR. Soso Jamabo seems decent at RB. The OL appears to be average. The stats confirm these observations. As a result, Chosen Rosen only has 4 TD passes vs 4 INT. You cannot afford to make mistakes against Stanford. The defense should be able to keep them in the game so Rosen just needs to move the chains on 3rd down.
Stanford is so consistent on defense from year to year. They held Kansas St to 13 points and USC to 10, but that being said, both of those games were at home. The Cardinal have looked good against the run and the pass in the early going. Rosen will be a big test for their defense and it will be interesting to see how things play out on Saturday night. We are worried about Rosen having enough time to test the Stanford corners.
MEGA Minutia
Stanford has won 8 straight in the series and beat the Vegas number in seven of those games….6 of the last 7 meetings between these two teams at UCLA have gone under the total…..10,000,000 imaginary Twitter and Covers betting “units” to anyone who gets Rosen to shave his mustache.
Summary
We might be interested in UCLA if we can get more than 3 points. Then again, it is hard to ignore the series domination by Stanford and we are almost 100% sure that Stanford is going to win the war in the trenches. REALLY hard to back a team in that spot only catching 3 points.
Conclusion
Official play: None
Lean: Strong lean to under any number 45 or better. This game is still on the short list of possibilities.