For a few plays, I thought this might be the year.

Stanford was rotating quarterbacks and going nowhere on offense. UCLA led 13-6 and had second-and-goal from the 3. Cover that distance, and Stanford’s nine-game series winning streak is in serious jeopardy.

And then the Bruins get called for illegal formation. And then they can’t score a touchdown. And then Stanford blocks the field goal. And then the Cardinal goes 80 yards in seven plays. And that was it. Get Pac-12 Conference news in your inbox. Sign up for the Pac-12 Hotline newsletter.

From then on, Stanford-UCLA ’17 unfolded like so many of their matchups this decade.

The Cardinal was too sharp, too tough, too resourceful. And the Bruins were the opposite of all those things.

(For more coverage, check the Bay Area News Group’s Stanford tag page.)

Result: Beat UCLA 58-34.

Grade: A-

Comment: Have to take the quality of competition into account, and UCLA hardly qualifies as a first-class opponent — therefore the -.

(The same is true of this week’s opponent, by the way.)

*** On the quarterbacks:

We’ll assume that Keller Chryst has a concussion, or was held out of the second half because of head-trauma concerns.

We’ll also assume that he is not available this week. That’s not based on any insight, just a hunch — Stanford will play it ultra conservatively.

David Shaw was non-committal on the starter for Arizona State, and there is no benefit to him going public with a decision until he has to (i.e., the first series Saturday afternoon).

Hard to imagine that it would be anyone other than K.J. Costello, however. Ryan Burns has had his chances over two seasons, and Stanford needs to know what it has in Costello.

He’s almost halfway through his redshirt freshman season, has a junior ahead of him (Chryst) and a touted true freshman behind him (David Mills).

Then again, Stanford always seem to have a touted freshman in the pipeline but has produced only two championship-caliber quarterbacks in the past decade, Andrew Luck and Kevin Hogan.

Shaw needs to know his options with Chryst and Costello, and therefore with Mills, for the rest of this season and next — and even into 2019.

That means playing Costello — and not against the cupcake defenses, either.

We saw that scenario play out with Chryst. He took over for Burns last season just as the schedule turned soft and looked good against bad defenses, which skewed the outlook.

UCLA’s defense is just as bad as the ones Chryst handled late last season — the Bruins are allowed 50 points per game to teams not named Hawaii.

If Arizona State’s defense is better, it’s only marginally better.

The Cardinal needs to see Costello against Utah and against Oregon (much improved) and certainly against the Washington schools — and even against Cal — in order to get a firm sense for what it has in Costello.

Problem is, that’s all true of Chryst, as well.

He wasn’t effective against USC or San Diego State, has started just 10 games and — let’s not forget — missed the offseason because of knee surgery/rehab.

Stanford has three quarterbacks (Chryst, Costello, Mills) with big arms and big frames and at least one-and-a-half seasons of eligibility remaining. It needs some answers.

*** One thought on Bryce Love, because there isn’t much to add:

His quickness creates more margin for error for an offensive line still sorting itself out.

The blocks don’t have to be perfect, the creases don’t have to be wide — Love can make a little space work for big gains.

His style is ideal for Stanford at the moment. Related Articles Weekend Wrap: On ground games, gaffes galore, QBs, TBs, statements, stats and look-backs

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*** One noticeable development Saturday: The tight ends were involved in the passing game.

That was partly due to UCLA’s (many) shortcomings and partly because Stanford/Costello seemed to make a point of finding Dalton Schultz and Kaden Smith.

Just as Love should have 18+ carries per game, the tight ends should have 10-12 targets per game.

Add Trent Irwin and JJ Arcega-Whiteside, and that’s a diverse, talent core of playmakers.

No reason the Cardinal should be scoring 20 – 24 ppg.

Next up: vs. Arizona State

The matchup: Not all that different from the UCLA matchup, actually.

Neither the Bruins or Sun Devils have effective running games, neither plays much defense — UCLA is 121st nationally in yards-per-play allowed, ASU is 118th — and neither is comfortable playing in tight quarters.

Also, both are seemingly in fragile states, with coaches under extreme pressure to win immediately.

The Sun Devils showed some backbone in their 37-35 victory over Oregon on Saturday. However … sorry: HOWEVER, they haven’t won a conference road game in two years.

Of their eight consecutive losses, seven have come by at least two touchdowns.

They are not built to win on the road against reasonably competent opponents. Stanford certainly qualifies as such.

The Cardinal is favored by 16. Probably not enough.

Definitely not enough.

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