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Why Oregon fans should root for UCLA this weekend.

While the Oregon Ducks battle the Washington State Cougars this weekend within the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium, a major battle will be taking place down in Palo Alto as the no. 9 UCLA Bruins take on the no. 13 Stanford Cardinal. You should root for UCLA against Stanford this weekend and here's why.

By Dominic Vieira
Bro hug for UCLA!
Bro hug for UCLA!
Jonathan Ferrey

The North standings currently look like this:

  1. Oregon (3-0)
  2. Oregon State (3-0)
  3. Stanford (3-1)
  4. Washington State (2-2)
  5. Washington (1-2)
  6. California (0-3)

Assuming that Oregon defeats Washington State and Oregon State doesn't lay a gigantic derp-filled egg against California, both schools should move to 4-0 in conference by the end of Saturday. The Bears and Cougars, while not mathematically eliminated, would have a lot of problems coming back to take the conference title.

Washington is facing the third game of their gauntlet in taking on Arizona State on the road in Tempe. This is a must win game for the Huskies to stay in the race and Oregon would most likely benefit for strength of schedule considerations, in a minor way, with a UW win. A loss, and they're more than likely out of the race.

Stanford is where things get interesting.

A win by the Cardinal against UCLA keeps them close to Oregon and Oregon State going into the second half of the season with games left against both teams and a manageable conference slate remaining against USC and Cal. A loss squeezes the noose pretty tight, giving them a 2 game deficit behind the Beavers and Ducks.

If UCLA defeats Stanford, Oregon would still control their own destiny to the Pac-12 North crown, even if they lose to Stanford on November 7th. That's a good place to be.

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