After three consecutive victories, the WSU football team will take on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins (3-3, 1-2) in a late night Pac-12 showcase on Saturday.

The Cougars (3-2, 2-0) are coming off a major program victory after defeating the Stanford Cardinal 42-16, who were ranked 15th in the nation at the time. Stanford has fallen out of the rankings after their second consecutive blowout loss, and the Cougars enter play on Saturday with a renewed image, although still finding themselves unranked.

“I’d say we’ve always had that us-against-the-world mentality, even in games we maybe should have been favored in,” redshirt senior offensive lineman Eduardo Middleton said. “We try not to pay too much attention to that but at the same time, as a team we’re going to play and earn our respect.”

Last season, WSU made a statement in its game against UCLA, taking down a nationally ranked Bruins squad on a last second touchdown pass.

WSU enters this Saturday’s contest averaging 43.8 points per game after two games of Pac-12 play. The majority of the Cougars’ top-flight offensive production comes in the passing game, where they average over 381 yards per game.

WSU has also had success in the rushing game this season. Coming off the third game of 100-plus total rushing yards, the tailback trio of redshirt freshman James Williams and redshirt juniors Gerard Wicks and Jamal Morrow have been major factors in the Cougars’ recent success.

These three running backs account for 15 touchdowns combined, with 12 of those 15 scores coming on rush plays. Overall, the running backs account for just over half of the total touchdowns from scrimmage.

The running backs have been effective thus far, but the whole offense will be put to the test against UCLA. The Bruins bring a top-40 defense to Pullman, ranking in the top-30 in pass defense.

In their last game UCLA held Arizona State to just one touchdown through the air, even holding the Sun Devils to a field goal after the Bruins offense lost the ball on its own four-yard line.

Once again, the Cougars will play against a formidable opponent that many expect will be the biggest challenge for them yet.

The Cougs have often had an explosive offense under Head Coach Mike Leach, but the defense has been the difference this year.

“The defense over the past couple years is probably the biggest part to all of our wins,” redshirt senior wide receiver Gabe Marks said. “The offense has always put up the yards and scored points for the most part, but the defense getting turnovers and being disruptive changes the whole landscape of the game.”

The WSU defense has seen massive improvement since a week one shootout against FCS Eastern Washington. After giving up 45 points in a loss to start the season, the Cougars then limited a talented Boise State squad to 31 in a loss and smothered two Pac-12 powerhouse teams in Oregon and Stanford.

A good deal of the recent success is credited to strong performance from the defensive front. Redshirt sophomore Hercules Mata’afa has three sacks on the season and leads the WSU defensive front.

The mettle of the WSU defense will be tested this weekend against a Bruins offense that put up more than 400 passing yards against Arizona State.

That passing stat can be deceiving, however, as the Bruins could not get the ground game going. In the same game that they put up those 400 plus passing yards, UCLA had a net negative one rushing yards on 23 carries.

These struggles with the running game turned UCLA into a one-dimensional team, necessitating a massive passing attack in order to compensate for the lack of rushing success. The scenario was not a pleasant one for a Bruins team that is known for running a pro-style, smash mouth offense.

Leach noticed that the UCLA has transitioned away from that a bit.

“They (UCLA) are supposed to be this run team, run team, run team,” Leach said, “but they’re third or fourth in the conference in passing. They just threw it 54 times.”

Behind the arm of sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen, UCLA was able to keep itself in the game, but after Rosen went down late in the game the Bruins gave up the ghost.

Rosen may join UCLA redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Kolton Miller and WSU linebacker sophomore Logan Tago on the list of inactive players on Saturday night, but UCLA Head Coach Jim Mora has a positive outlook on Rosen’s ability to play this week.

The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in Martin Stadium and will air on ESPN.