The UCLA Bruins take their three-game winning streak to northern California to face the Cal Golden Bears, at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Saturday. UCLA is 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in conference, losing to Stanford, 35-0, and defeating Washington State, 42-28. This is the first Pac-10 road game for the Bruins.
California is 2-2, and coming off a bye week. They lost their only conference game this season, Sept. 25 to Arizona, 10-9 thanks to a late touchdown in an ugly, defensive battle.
The only real change to the preliminary depth chart for UCLA is that freshman Owamagbe Odighizuwa is listed as the starter at left defensive end. Of course, the big question is whether or not quarterback Kevin Prince will be healthy enough to play against Cal. Sophomore Richard Brehaut made his first career start against Washington State on Saturday, completing 12 of 23 passes for 128 yards.
The Bruins have really established their running game in the last three weeks, running for a combined 967 yards on the ground in their last three wins. UCLA has topped 250 yards rushing in each of its last three games, and has won 18 consecutive such games, and is 34-1 since 1990 when they top 250 team rushing yards.
Sophomore sensation Johnathan Franklin has led the way, with three straight 100-yard games, including 216 against the Washington State Cougars on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
UCLA has lost five straight games to Cal at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, with their last win coming when the No. 2 Bruins beat the Bears, 28-16 in 1998. The Bruins lead the all-time series with Cal, 49-30-1.