DANIEL WONG/ Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior linebacker
Kevin Stromsborg attacks Cal’s quarterback last
week. The No. 3 Bruins face No. 20 Stanford this Saturday in Palo
Alto.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff
It should be a wild one on The Farm this weekend when UCLA heads
north to take on Stanford.
The game has Pac-10 championship implications, as the No. 4
Bruins (6-0 overall, 3-0 Pac-10) are currently undefeated in
conference play while the No. 20 Cardinal (4-1, 2-1) has one loss
on the year.
Last weekend the Cardinal traveled to Oregon and snapped the
Ducks’ 23 game home winning streak with a 49-42 victory. In
that game Stanford tallied 330 yards through the air on their way
to a huge comeback victory.
“They are the most complete football team we will have
seen so far,” UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said. “They
can do it all, they’re well-balanced.”
The Stanford offense averages nearly 450 yards per game and has
scored at least 38 points in four of its five games. It ranks
seventh in the nation in scoring and 13th in total offense. The
team features a pair of running backs, Brian Allen and Kerry
Carter, who get the majority of the carries and have scored 11
touchdowns between this year.
The air attack will be without starting quarterback Randy
Fasani, who suffered a sprained knee in the Oregon game and will be
out four to six weeks. In his place, Chris Lewis, a junior out of
Long Beach, will get the start. Lewis led the Cardinal back from a
14 point deficit against the Ducks, finishing the game with 12-26
for 189 yards and two touchdowns.
“I can’t say Chris is the athlete that Randy is,
because Randy is an exceptional athlete,” Stanford head coach
Tyrone Willingham said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Fasani’s absence figures to be a major factor for the
game. It is the third straight contest in which the Bruins will
face the opposing team’s backup quarterback. Fasani is a
candidate for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award given to the best
senior quarterback in the country. He is currently ranked tenth in
the nation in passing efficiency.
FOOTBALL vs. Saturday 12:30 p.m. Stanford
Stadium ABC
For Lewis, the game marks the fourth time he will start in his
Cardinal career. Last year he engineered wins over USC and Texas
after Fasani went down.
The Bruins enter the game with a key injury as well. Starting
wideout Brian Poli-Dixon will miss his second game in a row with a
dislocated shoulder. This provides Tab Perry, a native of Milpitas,
with a chance to play in front of his home crowd.
“It hypes me up,” Perry said of the opportunity.
“Not too many people get to come and see me down here, and
(Stanford) is pretty much in my back yard.”
Despite Poli-Dixon’s absence, the Bruins received good
news this Thursday when they found out freshman cornerback Matt
Ware would play despite a sore ankle. He will provide help covering
Stanford’s 6-foot-7 receiver Teyo Johnson.
Defensively Stanford gives up 100 yards rushing per game, while
UCLA averages over 220 yards on the ground. This is a matchup the
Bruins will look to exploit behind the powerful legs of Heisman
Trophy candidate DeShaun Foster.
Most likely the game will boil down to a contest between a
stingy UCLA defense and a potent Stanford offense. Even though the
Cardinal is playing with a man down, this Pac-10 contest will open
the gate to the conference championship.