DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff The defensive line
prepares to assault the Cal offense in last Saturday’s victory over
the Golden Bears.
By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Reporter
There will be a clash of the Titans on Saturday. The powerful
monsters from northern and southern California will butt heads at
Stanford Stadium ““ and the winner will be one step closer to
sitting atop the Pac-10 throne.
From southern California reign the UCLA front seven, an
undefeated group which has sidelined the starting quarterback from
four of their six contests.
On the other side of the line is the Stanford offensive line
representing northern California. Stanford’s offensive line
averages 6 feet, five inches and 303 pounds.
“Stanford has one of the best offensive lines in the
Pac-10, and they are definitely the most well-coached line that
we’ll face,” said UCLA linebacker Robert Thomas.
The UCLA defensive line set the tone for its season two weeks
ago against Washington, notching four sacks and 12 tackles for a
loss.
“We try to raise the bar of our performance every
week,” said UCLA defensive line coach Don Johnson. “We
haven’t played a perfect game, and I don’t know if we
ever will, but that’s our goal.”
Last week’s contest against Cal was less than perfect. The
Bruin front seven struggled a bit against a less talented Bear
offensive line, amassing one sack and eight tackles for a loss
during the contest. Or maybe it wasn’t a bad performance
““ it just looked that way when compared to the Washington
game.
No matter how you look at their past performances, the task of
getting past the Stanford line is a difficult task. In last
week’s contest against No. 5 Oregon, the Stanford offensive
line generated 140 rushing yards and did not allow a sack in 38
passing attempts.
“They are going to protect their quarterback,”
Thomas said. “We’re going to have our hands
full.”
After Stanford upset Oregon in Eugene 49-42 last week, the
matchup between the two lines has been magnified.
If UCLA can disrupt the rhythm of Stanford backup quarterback
turned starter Chris Lewis, the Bruins will have the
Cardinal’s potent offensive weapons held in check before the
ball can even get to them.
If the Stanford offensive line has their way with the Bruin
front, Lewis will use his talent to repeat his 189-yard,
two-touchdown performance of a week ago.
“We’re going to go out there and do what we do every
game and that’s to dominate the opposition,” UCLA
defensive end Kenyon Coleman said.
Blows will be thrown and colossal battles will be waged Saturday
at The Farm. But in order to emerge victorious for the seventh
time, the UCLA front seven will need a dominant performance like
the one they got against Washington and less like the one they got
against Cal.