The leader of football at The Farm in Palo Alto, Stanford head coach David Shaw sports a veritable herd of talent on defense.
Four members of his defensive front seven are on the watch list for the Bednarik Award, which is given to the nation’s best defensive player at the season’s end. The Cardinal quartet has racked up 13 sacks through six games, leading a team that posted a nation-best 57 sacks in 2012. But in Shaw’s eyes, the cream of the defensive crop patrols the line of scrimmage for UCLA.
“I had been saying all along, that I thought (Oregon quarterback) Marcus Mariota is the best player in nation. It’s a tie for me now. The guy that wears No. 11 (UCLA senior outside linebacker Anthony Barr) is the best player I’ve seen in probably a couple of years,” Shaw said. “You get excited when he doesn’t (pass) rush, but then he does a great job in pass coverage. You can’t throw the ball over or around him. And his acceleration, when the ball’s in the air, to get people down is impressive.”
Barr and the UCLA defense look to apply even more pressure to a No. 13 Stanford team already feeling the heat after a six-point loss to unranked Utah last week. The Cardinal, who host the Bruins in Palo Alto Saturday, started the season with national title aspirations as a top-five team, but fell out of the top 10 after falling to the Utes 27-21 last Saturday. Stanford’s defeat helped vault UCLA, who narrowly beat Utah two weeks ago, into the No. 9 spot.
Shaw praised the subtleties of the UCLA defensive front seven, highlighting the Bruins’ ability to get off of blocks and penetrate into the offensive backfield. As a whole, he called the Bruins’ linebackers and defensive line “a very, very good group of guys.”
A Bruin making his case for standout acclaim is Myles Jack, the outside linebacker opposite of Barr who has emerged as a different kind of threat to quarterbacks from his star teammate.
The freshman leads UCLA with seven passes defended, including a tipped ball coming off of an edge rush that lead to an interception against Utah. His ability to cover receivers five games into the season will be put to the test against Stanford’s junior wide receiver Ty Montgomery, a speedy rushing and receiving threat whom Jack expects to face in coverage at some point Saturday.
Barr, Jack and the rest of UCLA’s defense may not have many chances to frustrate Stanford junior quarterback Kevin Hogan. While UCLA has predominantly played pass-first teams content to run out variations of shotgun formations to open the year, Stanford favors running the football in a variety of ways out of a myriad of formations. The Cardinal have attempted just 141 passes this year, good for 111th in the nation and the second least among teams ranked in the top 25.
While Stanford likes to get creative with its run looks, the Cardinal’s top two running backs, Tyler Gaffney and Anthony Wilkerson, are anything but exotic in their style of play.
“Their running backs always fall forward, always get 3 yards. They hit the hole, they don’t try to make anything up,” Jack said, while adding that the 210-pound-plus size and quickness of Stanford’s running backs make them solid.
UCLA coach Jim Mora, a former defensive coordinator and head coach in the NFL, said he likes the the wide-open UCLA offense installed by offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone more than he originally thought he would. Mora nevertheless looks forward to seeing his defense answer the challenge of defending an offense that showcases the likes of pulling offensive linemen and run-blocking tight ends and running backs.
“My roots are in running … and stopping the run. A game like this, I’m excited about it. I’m excited to see some powers, counters, (lead blocks) and see how we handle that stuff,” Mora said.
While the tempo and nature of the game figures to be unlike anything the Bruins have seen this year, the potential for fireworks remains between talented defenses. UCLA and Stanford combined for more than 800 yards of offense in last year’s Pac-12 title meeting, though a lone turnover set Stanford up at the UCLA goal-line for an eventual touchdown.
Mora and players had little to say throughout the week about the possibility of revenge or validation in a game against their highest ranked opponent yet. To senior linebacker Jordan Zumwalt, who used an expletive last year to describe his feelings about the three-point loss in the title game, tangible aspects will define the showdown in Palo Alto.
“It’s (going to be) a physical game, and that’s what football is all about,” Zumwalt said.