Inside Slant

The Sports Xchange

November 19, 2018 at 11:26 pm.

Stanford treks to face confident UCLA

Stanford takes has great pride in running the ball, and has in recent years behind running backs Toby Gerhart, Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love, among others.

This week, the Cardinal will face a team with great momentum running the ball.

UCLA’s Joshua Kelley just rushed for 289 yards on 40 carries with two touchdowns in a 34-27 win over rival USC. Stanford, meanwhile, had a week off after the 121st rendition of the Big Game with Cal was postponed due to poor air quality stemming from the Camp Fire in Northern California.

UCLA entertains Stanford on Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The Cardinal will then finish the regular season against Cal on Dec. 1 in Berkeley.

Stanford (6-4, 4-3 Pac-12) manhandled Oregon State 48-17 in its last outing, recovering after losing four of five games to fall out of the Pac-12 North race. The unexpected week off meant more time for standout receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior, to recover from an ankle injury.

However, Arcega-Whiteside is still questionable for the UCLA game. Coach David Shaw is known for being intentionally vague about status of injured players.

Tailback Bryce Love, however, is good to go as he has slowly come back to strength after an ankle injury. Love had 11 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown (more than 8 yards per carry on average) in the Oregon State win. Quarterback K.J. Costello was 23 of 33 passing for 342 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

Tight end Colby Parkinson (6-7, 240 pounds) took Arcega-Whiteside’s place as the premier target, with six catches for 166 yards and all four of Costello’s TDs. Parkinson is one of two dynamic Stanford tight ends. Kaden Smith leads FBS tight ends since 2013 with three 100-yard, eight-plus catch games, and his 47 receptions are second in the nation among tight ends.

“K.J. played extremely well,” Shaw said of the Oregon State game. “Him and Colby have been working at timing. It was great to see those two connect.”

UCLA (3-8, 3-5) did just allow 337 passing yards and two touchdowns to USC true freshman quarterback JT Daniels.

UCLA has been unpredictable in the first year of head coach Chip Kelly, who was the mind behind Oregon’s rebirth as a West Coast power.

The Bruins had lost three straight (to Utah, Oregon and Arizona State) before topping USC. UCLA has shown balance on offense, as it has 2,387 passing yards and 1,188 from Kelley (who has 10 touchdowns).

Stanford has already clinched bowl eligibility via its sixth win (the Oregon State rout). UCLA will not play in a bowl game.