Heh, my numbers actually call for UCLA to win SU. So I need to dig deeper or leave it alone. Gotta find out why the numbers call for it and how its supposed to happen. But If I was going straight off my work, Id take UCLA ML. Instead, Im being a bit of a wuss & taking the pts
lol
I came into the season thinking ucla could win this game. Oregon next week is a different beast but I've always viewed this one as winnable. Now that I'm reading about how screwed up Stanford's dline situation is I'm thinking we
should win.
free column from front page of stanford scout bootleg:
(this is an excerpt from that column)
A Decimated Defensive Line
Stanford's defensive success last season was rooted in dominance on the defensive front. When Henry Anderson routinely relocated the line of scrimmage in Eugene, a host of potential difficulties in defending the Ducks were rendered moot. But injuries have had a specific focus here in 2013, and it's fallen almost exclusively on the defensive line. The Farm Boys are now scrambling to replace Anderson (knee), a task which would be more manageable if David Parry were healthy.
Instead, the nose tackle is playing through a lower abdominal issue while his back-up Ikenna Nwafor (leg) is shelved for several weeks. Meanwhile, defensive end Ben Gardner is battling through intense pain in his arm.
"It hurts like a son of gun," Shaw said.
Anderson, who was originally expected to miss 4-6 weeks, may miss slightly more time now: Shaw predicted Tuesday that he'll be back for either the Oregon game on November 7 or the USC contest November 16. The six-foot-six, 295-pound terror is expected to begin running and conditioning again this week.
Meanwhile, it appears that both Parry and Gardner will play through lingering issues for the indefinite future. Gardner undergoes frequent treatment for his arm injury, while the Cardinal is holding Parry out of practice until Wednesday for his body to at least partially recuperate. These nagging issues are compounded by a lack of trusted depth on the defensive line. Two weeks ago, defensive coordinator Derek Mason stressed to me that he "needed more" from youngsters Nate Lohn and Aziz Shittu so that he could employ a legitimate rotation.
Shittu, however, saw action on only one unproductive play at Utah before being removed from the game. His development has obviously come along slower than Stanford's brass had hoped.
These issues certainly encouraged Mason to ask Shaw if tight end Luke Kaumatule could switch positions to defensive end after the loss to Utah. The 6-foot-7, 265-pound Hawaiian, who was recruited to The Farm as a defensive player and only switched to offense after Shaw asked him to do so following the graduations of Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo, seemed content with the move.
"That sounds like fun," he told his coach.