Know Your Opponent: UCLA Football vs. Stanford 2017

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: David Shaw head coach of Stanforn University speaks during a US College Football Media Opportunity at Tramway Oval on August 23, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images) /

The UCLA Football team begins Pac-12 play against the Stanford Cardinal, a team they have not defeated in 9 tries. Will this year be different or more of the same?

Many moons have passed since the UCLA Football (2-1) team last defeated the Stanford Cardinal (1-2). It was Rick Neuheisel‘s first year and he took down Jim Harbaugh‘s Cardinal 23-20 way back in 2008.

Needless to say, both teams weren’t great, though the Bruins were slightly better in that victory. Since then, Stanford has gotten exponentially better.

"Did You Know… The last time UCLA beat Stanford, Miley Cyrus was still Hannah Montana, Barack Obama had not yet been elected president, Twilight, Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E were all in theaters, ‘Mad Men’ was in its 2nd season, Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer, Charlie Strong and Dan Mullen were all at Florida, the LA Kings were four years from away from winning their first Stanley Cup and the Pac-12 was still… the Pac-10."

That last victory occurred nine years ago. It has been a decade of dominance by the Cardinal and the majority of those games were not even close. But things are different this season, and I am not trying to say this is UCLA’s year, but things are really quite different. Oddly different.

Neither team is ranked, both are having problems on one side of the ball and there is a sense that this game could be sloppy with different parts of this game. Let’s find out why…