UCLA plays Stanford in football Thursday night, so the lead-up around Westwood has been the annual probing about whether the Bruins are tough enough to match up with a Cardinal team that generally kicks sand in the face of opponents.
"This is a good measuring stick for our offensive line," UCLA tackle Caleb Benenoch said. "Stanford is a hard-nosed football team. They wait for you to make mistakes. You know you're only going to get seven or eight drives on offense, and if you don't make them count, you're going to have problems beating them."
The macho factor has tilted Stanford's way in three of the Cardinal's last four games against UCLA.