It has been a long time since UCLA football defeated Stanford.
So long that the last time it happened, Barack Obama hadn’t been elected into office yet.
The Bruins (2-1) will try to end an eight-year losing streak against the No. 7 Cardinal (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) this Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
The past summer, UCLA made several schematic changes to work towards beating a team built like Stanford. The Bruins switched to a more traditional offense that’ll help them better control time of possession and to a 4-3 defense geared to stop a power-run offense.
In fact, many think this current team was designed just to beat the Cardinal.
Here’s the Stanford scouting report detailing some of the most important factors that UCLA will have to watch out for.
1. Christian McCaffrey
Even the most casual of college football fans knows what Christian McCaffrey can do, which is pretty much everything. The junior running back can beat you in every aspect of the game – running, receiving and returning. He’s been one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in college football since last year and is considered one of the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy this year.
As a sophomore, he broke the NCAA single-season all-purpose yards record with 3,864 and is showing no signs of stopping this season. In Stanford’s first two games, McCaffrey rushed 298 yards for three touchdowns, gained another 106 yards receiving for another score and returned 50 yards on special teams.
That’s all to say that UCLA should expect to see No. 5 with the ball all night long.
2. Ryan Burns
While the majority of the Bruin defense will have both eyes on McCaffrey, that leaves senior quarterback Ryan Burns free to pick his spots to attack. He may be inexperienced – playing only six games his first three seasons at Stanford – but he has the tools to hurt UCLA if the defense isn’t careful.
The Cardinal won’t rely on his passing game too much. Burns only had 18 pass attempts in Stanford’s season opener with Kansas State and another 14 attempts in the game against USC. However, his attempts have been completed for an average of 11.7 yards per catch.
3. Stanford defense
McCaffrey has rightfully garnered most of the attention this season, but the defense has been rock-solid for the No. 7 team in the nation. The Cardinal has only allowed a combined 23 points. Junior defensive end Solomon Thomas is on the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list and has been an anchor for a deep defensive line. Fellow junior defensive end Harrison Phillips sat out last game with a knee injury but could be ready to play Saturday night.
The secondary has also been a strength for the Cardinal this season, most notably holding USC’s JuJu Smith-Schuster – one of the best receivers in the nation – to just 34 yards on three catches. Keep an eye on junior cornerback Alijah Holder and sophomore cornerback Quenton Meeks, both who might sneak in from the secondary to go after UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen.
The last time Stanford lost to UCLA the Cardinal were in the midst of a 5-7 season and their starting quarterback (Tavita Pritchard) had just returned after having had to sit out 2 games due to a concussion. Even then UCLA managed only to eek out a 3 point victory.
Further, back in 2008 the average star ratings of the 5 preceding Stanford recruiting classes were 3.06, 2.89, 2.58, 2.5, and 2.64, respectively. By contrast, Stanford’s most recent 5 classes have had average ratings of 3.32, 3.18, 3.5, 3.17, and 3.59. Stanford’s program is entirely different from the one UCLA last beat in 2008. The one solace is that UCLA has had higher-ranked players than Stanford in 4 of the 5 recent classes. So, UCLA should still have the edge in athleticism (but, then again, so did USC).