UCLA Football: Stanford Will Make or Break Mora’s Revolution

UCLA Football faces Stanford again, this time early in the season. Will this be the year the Bruins beat Stanford?

If you are a diehard UCLA Football fan or even if you’ve only been watching the team since Head Coach Jim Mora took over, you’ve probably been dreading this coming Saturday when the Bruins will play Stanford.

Related Story: Pac-12 Championship a Must for Mora

Overall, UCLA has more wins against Stanford. Yet UCLA Football has been unable to beat Stanford since 2008. As a result, the Cardinal is only seven games shy from taking over the series.

Losing to Stanford isn’t pretty or fun. Of course losing to any team isn’t great, but there’s something about losing to Stanford that seems different.

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The losing streak against the Cardinal began in 2009, when now Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck took over in Palo Alto. Prior to that, UCLA Football had beat Stanford five games in a row.

Do you remember 2010? That was a brutal year. The Bruins lost to Stanford 35-0. Imagine that—in an entire game, the Bruins couldn’t even manage a field goal. Saying that the Bruins got manhandled that day would be an understatement.

There was hope that the drought against Stanford was going to end. Since Mora got hired at the end of 2011, he’d been talking about a “Bruin Revolution” (although we’ve recently moved from that for a reason).

Things were going to change at UCLA. And in many ways they did: the Bruins were finally on the map as a football school again. But then again some things didn’t change: UCLA struggled to defeat its Northern rival over and over again.

Another loss to the Cardinal would mark the official end of the revolution.

After four years with the Bruins, many criticize Mora since the Bruins have yet to win the Pac-12 title. And for the Bruins to win the Pac-12, they will have to defeat the Cardinal. You can’t have one without the other.

Whether it happens this Saturday or in the Pac-12 title (if we can get that far), UCLA Football needs to win against Stanford. Another loss to the Cardinal would mark the official end of the revolution. It would mean Mora simply can’t take the Bruins that far.

This Saturday’s game is an important one, and Mora and the Bruins know it. Will UCLA Football finally show us they can go the distance? Tune in at 5 PM PST on ABC to find the answer.

Next: Know Your Opponent: UCLA vs. Stanford

Go Bruins! Beat Stanford (Finally)!