Tag: Pac-12

by Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford vs Oregon State

Well fans, the biggest game of the year in the Pac-12 is upon us. The Stanford Cardinal football team has a record of 7-1 and will be facing the high-powered offense of the Oregon Ducks who are undefeated with a record of 8-0. The Ducks are ranked second in the nation and will be looking to

get revenge for losing to the Cardinal last year. The Stanford Cardinal went to to Eugene and upset the Ducks 17-14. The Cardinal then played UCLA for the Pac-12 crown and went on to the Rose Bowl

and beat Wisconsin. If the Ducks win Thursday evening, they will be favored to be Pac-12 champs

and perhaps play for the BCS crown this year.

The Cardinal lost tight end Zach Ertz and running back Stepfan Taylor to graduation and the

Cardinal offense , while good, still has to grind out the yardage. The Ducks , on the other hand, move the ball up and down the field and it will take a strong defensive effort by the Cardinal to stop them.

The Cardinal uses a gap plugging 3-4 defense and they are very physical. The defensive line will be bolstered by the return of big Henry Anderson and place kicker Jordan Williamson will be returning after recovering from an injury. The Cardinal has to stop Heisman Trophy candidate, Marcus Mariota in order to win. That will be a tall order but the Cardinal has stopped UCLA’s Brett Hundley and Oregon State’s Sean Mannion.

The game is sold out and game time is at 6pm PT at Stanford Stadium. The gNation will be watching two teams from the Pac-12 ranked in the top ten. Don’t miss it.

by Jerry Feitelberg

Preview of UCLA vs. Stanford

The Stanford Cardinal (5-0,3-1Pac12) ranked 13th nationally after losing to the University of Utah last Saturday will be meeting the 9th ranked UCLA Bruins(5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) at Stanford Stadium at 12:30pm. The Cardinal, still smarting from their loss to the unranked University of Utah Utes will be

looking to get back on the winning track again but the Bruins are loaded and will be gunning to avenge the two losses they sustained last year against Stanford.

The Bruins are coming off a big win last week in Pasadena as they trounced the California Bears 37-10.

The Bruin offense is led by Sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley. Hundley threw for 410 yards last week and that was the third most ever by a UCLA quarterback. So far this year, Hundley has completed 109 passes for 1469 yards and 12 touchdowns. His main receivers are Shaquelle Evans and Devin Fuller. Evans has caught 20 passes for 289 yards and 4 touchdowns while Fuller has 22 receptions good for 165 yards and two Tds. The Bruins main rushing threat is Jordon Jones who has rushed for 469 yards this year averaging 6.3 yards per card and he has scored five touchdowns.

The Bruin defense is led by All-American Linebacker Anthony Barr. Barr is a monster on the field and loves to sack the quarterback. Other players of note on defense are senior defensive end Keenan Graham and Freshman Eddie Vanderdoes. Myles Jack is a monster-in -training at linebacker.

The weakness of the Bruin defense was expected to be the secondary but they had a six-interception game at Utah and they are feeling very good about themselves.

Stanford ‘s offense is led by quarterback Kevin Hogan. Hogan has completed 82 passes this year good for 1178 yards and has 12 touchdowns to his credit. He has been intercepted 4 times. Running back Tyler Gaffney has rushed for 570 yards and has scored seven touchdowns. Hogan’s main receiving targets are Ty Montgomery who had 31 receptions good for 514 yards and five scores and Devon Cajuste has made 14 catches for 268 yards and four touchdowns.

The Stanford defense was a little banged up last week against Utah. Nose Tackle David Parry was injured. Parry started the game but was ineffective. The Cardinal gave up 181 yards rushing as a result.

The Cardinal will need A.J.Tarpley, Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy to be on the top of their game in order to stop the high-powered UCLA offense.

Should be a great game between two old rivals. UCLA leads the series 45-36-3. The Bruins have won six of the last twelve meetings but the Cardinal has won the last five.

The Cardinal’s schedule doesn’t get any easier as the play Oregon State at Corvallis on October 26th and then meet the powerful Oregon Ducks at Stanford Stadium on November 7th.