The Stanford Cardinal play the UCLA Bruins on Friday. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. ET. Listen to the live radio broadcast via the links provided below.
UCLA (9-2) can advance to Pac-12 title game on Dec. 5 if they win Friday afternoon. Oregon awaits the Bruins, provided the latter can do away with the unranked Cardinal. Although UCLA is on a five-game winning streak, they've struggled over the last two seasons against Stanford, losing all three games.
"We just have to play better," said UCLA coach Jim Mora, via the Associated Press. "If that's the common thread, yeah, we have to play better. We have to protect the ball. We have to take care of our quarterback."
Mora, though, seems to believe his team went through a metamorphosis after losing to Oregon on Oct. 11. The Bruins' record supports Mora's idea: the team went on to win five straight.
"Something happened after that Oregon game for our team," Mora said. "If they want to say it relieved the pressure, that's fine. I just feel like we refocused and gave ourselves a break maybe. We've been playing pretty good since then and getting better on a weekly basis."
Stanford (6-5), meanwhile, can play spoiler to UCLA's title-game hopes. If the Cardinal and their staunch defense can beat UCLA at home, then the winner between Arizona State and Arizona would go on to face Oregon in the conference championship.
After losing two straight, Stanford bounced back last week with a 38-17 rout at California. A big part of Stanford's success this season has been because of their defense, something Mora readily recognizes.
"They are solid, they are physical. They play with their shoulders square. They are good tacklers and disciplined," he said. "We're going to have to be very precise in everything that we do in order to get yards against them."
