Utah vs. UCLA Total Prediction
The UCLA Bruins racked up 37 points two weeks ago at Cal and 31 points last week at home versus Arizona. Will their offense be able to move the ball Friday night against Utah, however? The Pac-12 rivals will meet at 10:30 p.m. ET on Friday night.
Game Snapshot
119 Utah Utes at 120 UCLA Bruins
10:30 p.m. ET, Friday, October 26
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Utes are 10.5-point favorites to beat the Bruins. The total, meanwhile, sits at 54.5 points. As of this writing, 67% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Utes.
Utah Utes
Utah junior QB Tyler Huntley completed 22-of-29 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns in Saturday’s 41-24 win over USC. The 341 passing yards and four passing touchdown tied career highs. Huntley also ran for 33 yards and a touchdown to put the cherry on top of a great performance where he averaged 11.75 yards per pass attempt. The Trojans had zero answers defensively, and the game was essentially over when J.T. Daniels (concussion) left the game. Utah now moves into first place in the PAC 12 South, but they need to take care of business against UCLA next week to keep it that way.
UCLA Bruins
UCLA freshman QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson (shoulder) returned to throwing drills on Tuesday. “Thompson-Robinson throwing this morning with some juice on the ball,” Bolch wrote. “Big improvement.” No kidding. Bolch’s last dispatch from Sunday noted that DTR “could only short-arm two meek overhand passes… before reverting to an underhand technique.” Thompson-Robinson landed awkwardly on his throwing shoulder on Saturday while getting sacked by Arizona’s Colin Schooler. If he can’t heal by Friday, Wilton Speight would draw the start against Utah.
Betting Trends
Utah
The over is 5-2 in the Utes’ last seven road games.
UCLA
The over is 5-2 in the Bruins’ last seven games coming off a win.
Prediction
I mentioned in the intro of this piece that UCLA scored 37 points two weeks ago versus Cal and 31 last week at home versus Arizona. But the Bruins offense didn’t have to do much against the Golden Bears because Cal kept turning the ball over and the Wildcats’ defense is a sieve. Utah ranks 7th overall in yards allowed per game, owns the No. 1 defense against the run and is allowing just 17.7 points per game. UCLA will not have the same offensive success Friday night as it did the last two weeks and thus, I see value in the under.
College Football Prediction: Utah/UCLA under 54.5