GAME BREAKDOWN
KEY MATCHUP: Stanford is not shy about playing a punishing, unrelenting brand of football that includes the ability to run the ball and stop the run. RB Joshua Kelley of UCLA is coming off a mammoth performance against USC, including 289 yards on 40 carries, so whether the Stanford front seven is able to stop Kelley may tell the story. UCLA upset USC after three consecutive Pac-12 losses, and did beat Stanford’s rival Cal 37-7 earlier this season in Berkeley. The Cardinal’s run defense could be without linebacker Joey Alfieri, who is questionable due to an arm injury.
DRAFT SLANT
–RB Bryce Love is having a down season, statistically speaking, after entering as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. Through eight games played, Love has 580 yards and five touchdowns, and is averaging 5.2 yards per carry (his career average is 7). Love has missed two games due to injury. He is at 3,707 career rushing yards — fourth on the school’s all-time list in-between fifth-place Toby Gerhart (3,522) and third-place Christian McCaffrey (3,922). Love’s stock has incrementally fallen this season after starting as a late first-round prospect on the Big Board of NFLDraftScout.com senior analyst Rob Rang.
ROSTER REPORT
–K Jet Toner is questionable for the UCLA game with an undisclosed injury.
–WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside is questionable for the UCLA game with an ankle injury.
–LB Mustafa Branch is questionable for the UCLA game with an undisclosed injury.
–RB Trevor Speights is questionable for the UCLA game with an undisclosed injury.
–OL Nate Herbig is questionable for the UCLA game with an undisclosed injury.
–LB Joey Alfieri is questionable for the UCLA game with an arm injury.
–C Drew Dalman is questionable for the UCLA game with an undisclosed injury.
–OL Devery Hamilton is questionable for the UCLA game with an arm injury.
–QB Davis Mills is out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury.
–S Ben Edwards is out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury.
–OL Foster Sarell is out indefinitely with a leg injury.
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