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Stanford-UCLA Preview

Sep 7, 2010 - 11:10 PM By PAUL DIGIACOMO STATS Senior Editor

No. 21 Stanford (1-0) at UCLA (0-1), 10:30 p.m. EDT

A blowout victory in its season opener impressed enough voters to get Stanford back in the Top 25. Now, the Cardinal will need to beat UCLA at the Rose Bowl for the first time in nearly 14 years in order to remain ranked.

Stanford tries to end a six-game road losing streak to the Bruins in the Pac-10 opener for both teams Saturday night.

The Cardinal began the season with a 52-17 victory over Sacramento State last Saturday and moved into the poll at No. 25 on Tuesday.

In its first game without Heisman Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhart, Stanford had several players combine to rush for 213 yards and sophomore Andrew Luck threw a career-high four touchdown passes.

Gerhart led the nation with 1,871 rushing yards last season before being selected by Minnesota in the second round of the NFL draft.

"The running backs played a heck of a game," said Luck, who completed 17 of 23 passes for 316 yards - the second-most of his career - before being replaced late in the third quarter.

"We have been through a spring, a summer and a training camp with them, and as much as we love Toby, these are the guys now."

Stanford finished with 529 yards of offense and held the Hornets to 167.

"I thought our team did a good job on their alignments and assignments on both sides of the ball," coach Jim Harbaugh said.

The Cardinal did a good job against UCLA last season, winning 24-16 in Palo Alto to snap a five-game losing streak in the series. They haven't won at the Rose Bowl since November 1996, getting shut out in two of the last three visits.

"It's tougher to play on the road because it's tougher for your offense to operate," Harbaugh told Stanford's official website. "... That obstacle can and must be overcome."

UCLA opened with a 31-22 loss at Kansas State last Saturday, allowing the Wildcats to rush for 313 yards.

"I looked up at the scoreboard walking off the field, and I think that they had over 300 yards rushing," coach Rick Neuheisel said. "That's not UCLA football. That's not how we play, and it can't be how we play if we expect to have any kind of success."

The offense struggled as well, with sophomore Kevin Prince completing nine of 26 passes (36.4 percent) for 120 yards with one TD and two interceptions.

UCLA gained 299 yards against Stanford last season for its fifth-lowest total of 2009, but Harbaugh isn't counting on the Bruins stumbling again.

"They're not affected by the crowd noise," he said. "... They always have a team that is well coached and prepared for the ballgame. ... They've got a really good football team this year, so it's a big matchup."

Stanford will be without starting tight end Levine Toilolo, who will miss the rest of the season after tearing the ACL in his right knee on the second play of last week's game.

"It's really unfortunate," Harbaugh said. "He had prepared so well for the year and risen to the starting job. I feel sickened by it. I wanted to give him a hug after he said, 'It's OK, Coach, I'll be back.'"

Cardinal wide receiver Chris Owusu, linebacker Shayne Skov and running back Jeremy Stewart - who averaged 4.2 yards per carry last weekend - are day to day with undisclosed injuries.