Is This The Year Jim Mora And UCLA Take Down Stanford?

It was late in the third quarter on November 30, 2012 as UCLA’s all-time leading rusher Jonathan Franklin had scored a touchdown that put the #16 UCLA Bruins ahead of the #8 Stanford Cardinal in an improbable turn of events in the Pac-12 Championship Game. UCLA had lost 35-17 the week before to Stanford in a game that reflected more of the Cardinal’s dominance than it did the Bruins who were led by first-year head coach Jim Mora. The Bruins had surprised the Pac-12 going 9-3 up to that point, which included their first win in five years over USC. Things were looking good in Westwood for the first time in a long time.

November 30, 2012; Stanford, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Jim Mora looks on during the third quarter of the Pac-12 Championship game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

That included the 2012 Pac-12 Championship Game. With Franklin’s touchdown, UCLA lead 24-17 with a minute left in the 3rd quarter. In the fourth, they did as as good a job as they could to fend off the Cardinal in perhaps their best game of the season. The Bruins held Stanford to 155 yards on the ground and 170 through the air, while totaling 461 yards for themselves. UCLA was holding the Cardinal back.

But then Stanford broke through in the form of Cardinal quarterback Kevin Hogan‘s only touchdown pass of the game. Drew Terrell caught the perfectly placed pass to tie the game at 24. Four and a half minutes later, kicker Jordan Williamson hit a 36-yard field goal that inevitably won the game. UCLA was so close to winning the Pac-12 Championship Game. It may have hurt, but it was a good preview of what was to come.

The next year Stanford stuffed UCLA up in Palo Alto. The Bruins were no where near as close in this game as they were the previous season. UCLA lost 24-10 in a game that they did not score a touchdown in until the fourth quarter. It was brutal, not that you could blame the reigning Pac-12 Champions. With that loss, UCLA was 0-3 against Stanford in the Jim Mora era.

Fast forward to last Saturday, when UCLA ruined USC‘s hopes of winning the South Division. That win presented Mora and the Bruins with just one more hurdle to winning the division themselves… Stanford. As good a time as any, this year looks to be the best shot the Bruins have at taking down the Cardinal in quite a while.

This year, UCLA is 9-2, 6-2 and is poised for a really fantastic ending to this roller coaster season. Stanford is 6-5, 4-4 and just wishing theirs would end, but they know just as well as UCLA that it is not over. Still, “bi-polar” is probably the best description for the Cardinal. For a team that was quite a dominant force as back-to-back Pac-12 Champions, they have been more of a dog without bite this season. That is due to how good the Cardinal are with their defense, yet are horribly inefficient on offense.

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In the Pac-12, Stanford is first in scoring defense, total defense, run defense and pass defense. On offense, they are last in scoring offense, 11th in total offense, 9th in rushing offense and 10th in pass offense. Sure, Stanford plays more of a paced style of football that has led them to success in recent years, but this season has been down right inconsistent. In their wins, they essentially destroyed their opponents, but none of them were very good, thusly not ranked. In their losses, they could not seem to finish against their opponents, all of who were ranked at game time. Their defense held, but Hogan and Co. were not able to put the game away and UCLA knows this.

Now this does not mean the Bruins will roll over Stanford. If there is one thing we have learned this season in the Pac-12 is that anything can happen. With that, you can expect Mora to have this team focused and not looking at what could be. He has them looking at what is right now.

UCLA has been playing complete games as of late which needs to continue. As stated above, the Cardinal still have a killer defense and if UCLA cannot move the ball against them, than it makes no difference if they stop Stanford’s inept offense. Either way, the Bruins need to come into this game knowing that they are playing against the Pac-12 Champions and have a shot at dethroning them with a win. The stars are definitely aligned for UCLA.