The UCLA Bruins and Utah Utes do battle Saturday in a week 6 Pac-12 college football game from the Rose Bowl.
The Utah Utes will come into this one looking to build on their 4-1 record, picking up a 4th straight W with a 42-16 win over Oregon State last time out. Cameron Rising has thrown for 1,153 yards, 13 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on 68.3% passing while Tavion Thomas has a team-high 295 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. Devaughn Vele has a team-high 21 grabs for 269 receiving yards with 3 touchdowns while Dalton Kincaid has 257 yards and 5 scores and Brant Kuithe also has 206 receiving yards and 3 scores. Three other Utes have at least 100 receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Cole Bishop and Karene Reid each have a team-high 32 total tackles while Clark Phillips III has a team-high 4 interceptions and the Utes’ defense has combined for 9 sacks as a unit this season.
The UCLA Bruins will try to keep their perfect record in tact, improving to 5-0 with a 40-32 win over Washington last time out. Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s thrown for 1,211 yards, 11 touchdowns and an interception on 74.3% passing while also rushing for 223 yards and 3 scores. Zach Charbonnet has a team-high 417 rushing yards with 5 TDs while Jake Bobo has a team-high 363 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns while four other Bruins have at least 100 receiving yards this season. On defense, Darius Muasau has a team-high 30 total tackles while Laiatu Latu has a team-high 6 sacks and Grayson Murphy has 3 sacks as well. UCLA’s defense also has 6 interceptions as a group this season.
Utah is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following an ATS win while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 October games. UCLA is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games against a team with a winning road record and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 conference games while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 conference games.
I get the case to be made for UCLA as a home underdog in this spot, but the issue I have is that this is a small number of points to take with UCLA against a top-tier defense and the toughest defense they’ll have faced this season by a mile. The reason behind UCLA’s success is that they’ve been able to outscore teams, but Utah can hang offensively and like previously mentioned, have the defense to back it up. I think this one’s going to be a long game for DRT, Charbonnet and the rest of the Bruins, so give me Utah laying the points as I see the Utes winning by at least a touchdown.