UCLA vs. Stanford: Back-to-back meetings uncommon in college football

The Stanford Cardinal's 35-17 win against the UCLA Bruins in the final week of the regular season became a preview of this Friday's Pac-12 Championship game.

In a rare occurrence, the two college football teams will play in a back-to-back six days apart, but to expect any similarities between the games would be assuming too much.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Friday's game will be the first back-to-back matchup between the same two teams in a single season since 1935. UCLA head coach Jim Mora and Stanford head coach David Shaw don't think the game will resemble what happened last Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

"To think that UCLA is going to come up here and roll over for us," Shaw told the L.A. Times, "is completely wrong."

The Cardinal ultimately won last week with typical Stanford football. They controlled the game by holding the ball 35 minutes to the Bruins' 25 minutes on offense, and running back Stepfan Taylor became the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week with 142 yards on 20 carries to go with two touchdowns.

But Shaw cautioned that the Bruins will be looking for payback.

Ken Ravizza, a sports psychology expert, told the Los Angeles Times that it's a new game. Mora, meanwhile, hopes that's the case. He said he's looking for the Bruins to get a mixture of the right amount of work and the proper rest during the short week.