We're taking a look at the best week-by-week trips to make in the Pac-12. My editors call it the Ultimate Road Trip. I call it dangling meat for you guys until we can start writing about actual games. Chow down, gang.
Welcome to Week 7.
Thursday, Oct. 15
UCLA at Stanford
Saturday, Oct. 17
Arizona at Colorado
Arizona State at Utah
USC at Notre Dame
Oregon at Washington
Oregon State at Washington State
On bye
California
My choice: UCLA at Stanford + whatever else
Why: Let's be honest, I'm not going to convince Utah fans they should leave the Great Salt Lake to see USC at Notre Dame. And I sure as shipwreck aren't going to be able to draw Oregon-Washington fans away from anything other than Oregon-Washington.
I will say this, however ... make it to the Thursday night game first, if you can. Stanford has been the nagging itch at the top of Jim Mora's palate since he joined the league for the 2012 season. UCLA is 0-4 against Stanford in the Mora era, including two losses in 2012 and then consecutively in '13 and last year. Beyond that, the Bruins haven't beaten the Cardinal since a 23-20 win in 2008.
UCLA, as we've mentioned a few times on the blog in the past couple of months, is a team that is poised to make a run at the South and the conference title -- with one major exception. Who is going to be the quarterback? But by the time we arrive at Week 7, whoever it is will have already seen a couple of tough foes in the Arizona schools.
And Mora made it point this spring when we talked to note that some of UCLA's worst performances against Stanford have come after a USC win -- which was the case in '12 and last season. They played them tough in the Pac-12 championship game a week later, you might recall. This year, they'll have a 12 days between the ASU game and the trip to Stanford. So emotional roller coaster arguments shouldn't be applicable.
As for Stanford, they have an experienced quarterback, a budding running back, good tight ends and good linebackers. The defensive line needs some tuning up. But what you see is always what you get with Stanford. It will be a battle of UCLA's outstanding defensive line against Stanford's potentially-outstanding offensive line. If you like trench battles, this is the game to see.
As for the rest of the week, you're on your own. Want to see Oregon try to make it a standard dozen over Washington? Go for it. Want to make the trek to South Bend? By all means. Want to see another critical Pac-12 South showdown between Utah and ASU? Absolutely. That one came down to field goals last year.
This should be one of the more entertaining weeks of the season. Plan accordingly.