Here are five important questions ahead of Stanford-UCLA.

1. How will Stanford fare minus Ty Montgomery?

The Cardinal offense has ranged from bad to inconsistent this season, and they'll be playing against UCLA's peaking defense at a significant disadvantage: Multipurpose star Ty Montgomery will not be playing because of a shoulder injury.

Montgomery is by far Stanford's leading receiver; his 61 catches are nearly double the second-best individual output (32). David Shaw has also used No. 7's powerful yet speedy frame to run the football (Montgomery is averaging 6.2 yards per carry). Remember that Montgomery has been a dangerous returner, too. In summary, the Cardinal won't have their Swiss army knife.

This isn't good news for a Stanford team that's averaging only 11.4 points in regulation per game against ranked opponents this season. The Cardinal must combine the efforts of Francis Owusu, Christian McCaffrey and Michael Rector to make up for Mongtomery's missing production.

2. Who will play better, Brett Hundley or Kevin Hogan?

The popular pick here is obviously Hundley, because he is the quarterback who has made clear statistical strides in all three years as the UCLA starter. Hogan has been significantly shakier this season, and now he must prove that a decent big-game performance last week (15-for-20, 214 yards) was not just the product of facing a bad Cal defense. Hundley has plenty to prove, too: In last year's loss to Stanford, he threw two interceptions and averaged only 4.9 yards per attempt.

Both athletic quarterbacks will be tasked with remaining composed against defenses that are playing their best ball of the season.

3. Can Paul Perkins see success against the Stanford run defense?

Perkins is now leading the Pac-12 in rushing with 1,265 yards (an average of 5.9 yards per carry). Well, guess what? Stanford's rushing defense also leads the Pac-12. It's allowed only 3.2 yards per carry. The Cardinal's overall framework is oriented around stonewalling the run. Whenever defensive coordinator Lance Anderson's unit accomplishes that, its pass rush is unleashed, and the resulting quarterback hounding can create takeaways (see Cal's five turnovers last week).

Last year, UCLA mustered only a season-worst 74 rushing yards against Stanford, and that was Hundley's recipe for disaster. The Bruins managed only 10 points, their worst performance of the season.

4. Will we continue to see the good UCLA defense?

When it comes to opponents' yards per play, the Bruins' defense has posted its two best outings of the season in the past three games. Their recent suffocation of USC was particularly impressive: The Trojans mustered only 62 rushing yards and 4.1 yards per play.

One of the keys to UCLA's defensive improvement has been improved play and pressure from the defensive front. If this trend continues, the Bruins should be able to prevent Stanford from establishing a balanced attack. That's something Cal failed to do last week (204 yards rushing, 214 passing for the Cardinal). This is a critically important variable this week because Hogan is so reliant on the play-action pass for aerial success. Asserting ground success is a must for Stanford. Their offense has proven to be too unstable otherwise.

The UCLA defense will have an essential say in this matter.

5. Who has the special teams advantage?

When it comes to special teams efficiency ratings, both UCLA and Stanford own mediocre ranks beyond the top 50 teams in the nation. Neither has commanded the field-position battle particularly well. If this game does turn into a close defensive struggle, though, kickers may come into play (they certainly did when the Cardinal beat the Bruins 27-24 in 2012's Pac-12 championship game).

Stanford's Jordan Williamson has connected on 13-of-19 field goals this season; UCLA's Ka'imi Fairbairn has knocked through 15 of 19. Advantage on paper: Bruins. Advantage on Saturday: We'll see.