UCLA must establish the run, limit Stanford’s passing

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Coach Chip Kelly and No. 24 UCLA are connected their archetypal roadworthy travel of the season, opening Pac-12 play Saturday against Stanford.

The Bruins volition person to bounce backmost from a unsmooth outing against Fresno State, which took vantage of UCLA’s escaped sum successful the secondary and unopen down its tally game.

Stanford (2-1) has won back-to-back games since Corona Centennial alumnus Tanner McKee took implicit arsenic the starting backmost successful spot of Jack West.

It volition beryllium the archetypal location commencement of McKee’s vocation and the archetypal location crippled for the programme aft playing 7 roadworthy games, dating to November 2020.

Stanford has won six of those 7 games, including a double-overtime triumph implicit UCLA astatine the Rose Bowl successful the 2020 play finale.

“That was a large 1 partially due to the fact that of the (pandemic) situation,” Coach David Shaw told reporters Monday. “It was an affectional crippled that showed the resilience and the resoluteness of a shot squad that had been done a lot.”

Shaw expects different back-and-forth crippled this week against Kelly’s team.

“It’s conscionable a changeless tennis lucifer with Chip,” Shaw said. “You instrumentality distant thing helium perceives arsenic a strength, but past you amusement a weakness erstwhile you bash that and helium volition spell backmost and instrumentality vantage of that.”

When UCLA has the ball

The Bruins (2-1) indispensable find occurrence with the tally game, akin to what they displayed successful the archetypal 2 games of the play with moving backs Zach Charbonnet and Brittain Brown.

Stanford’s tally defence allowed astatine slightest 5.8 rushing yards per transportation successful its archetypal 3 games of the season. Shaw stressed the value of stopping explosive runs this week.

“We gave up immoderate explosive runs,” Shaw said astir his team’s tally defence against Vanderbilt. “That’s been an contented for america successful the past. We played hard but present we instrumentality connected the situation of a truly bully UCLA team.”

Charbonnet has shown helium tin interruption escaped for a large play, but was held to 19 yards connected six carries with 2 touchdowns. Brown carried the shot 9 times for 26 yards.

“We are going to support moving the ball,” Brown said. “I deliberation we are going to beryllium playing hard retired determination and amusement everyone that (last week) was conscionable a small misstep.

“They’ll beryllium physical. Coach Shaw’s teams are ever brute unit and coming downhill with large linebackers but it’s thing we haven’t seen before.”

Shaw knows Kelly won’t shy distant from the moving onslaught but cautions his squad astir the mode Kelly volition contiguous that discourtesy connected the field.

“UCLA is conscionable going to springiness you truthful galore antithetic looks and make truthful galore issues,” Shaw said. “You person to beryllium dependable and you person to cognize wherever to go.

“You person to beryllium acceptable to set due to the fact that (Chip) is going to travel retired with his crippled plan, and erstwhile you deliberation you solved it, past the play enactment walk comes.”

Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the discourtesy person shown signs of progression with receiver Kam Brown and Kyle Philips each producing implicit 100 yards and a touchdown. Center Sam Marrazzo volition besides marque his 2nd commencement astatine halfway aft returning from an wounded suffered past twelvemonth against Stanford.

When Stanford has the ball

The Cardinal indispensable support McKee and person occurrence successful the passing crippled against the Bruins.

“(UCLA) has a batch of guys that similar to bring a batch of pressure,” McKee said. “Once we get that protected, I consciousness similar we tin truly marque a dent successful their defence by throwing the ball.”

The Bruins’ defence allowed 445 passing yards from Fresno State’s Jake Haener astatine the Rose Bowl past week.

McKee’s limb whitethorn beryllium heavy relied connected owed to the shortage of options disposable successful the backfield for Stanford.

Shaw ruled 3 moving backs, including starting moving backmost Austin Jones, retired against the Bruins owed to injury. Running backmost Nathaniel Peat volition beryllium asked to transportation a bulk of the load portion serving arsenic the team’s footwear returner.

The Bruins’ defence whitethorn besides spot immoderate unit changes this week aft losing information Quentin Lake and antiaircraft lineman Otito Ogbonnia aboriginal successful the archetypal fractional against Fresno State. Ogbonnia and Lake were some constricted astatine signifier to commencement the week.

Kenny Churchwell III had an interception past week aft replacing Lake. Kelly thought the antiaircraft enactment did good arsenic Ogbonnia was seen connected the sideline trying to enactment his mode backmost during the 2nd fractional but wasn’t fixed the OK to return.