The Arizona Wildcats are coming off a narrow 45-42 win over the Colorado Buffaloes last week. They will need to be a lot better this week if they are going to put together back-to-back victories for the first time this season. Arizona improved to 3-2 with last week’s win, but has been relatively inconsistent from week-to-week. They’re a tough team to handicap as you don’t know what you’re going to get. Next up is a tough test against the UCLA Bruins side that is coming off a bye week following a close win of its own over Colorado the previous week. The Bruins are also 3-2 heading in to this week’s PAC-12 showdown but have yet to win on the road this season.
Details
Odds: Arizona -1.5
Date & Time: October 14th, 2017 – 9:00 PM ET
Location: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona
Broadcast: PAC12 Network
Reasons To Bet On The UCLA Bruins
UCLA also narrowly survived a date with the Buffaloes when they picked up a 27-23 win at home two weeks ago. The Bruins lost back-to-back road games at Memphis and Stanford in September so they will be looking for their first road victory of the year this week. UCLA needs a statement conference win to get back in to Pac-12 contention and they should be well rested and motivated following a bye week. Quarterback Josh Rosen has completed 64.9-percent of his passes for 2,135 yards and 17 touchdowns with five interceptions this season. If the pass offense has its way again this week, they will be tough to stop. Meanwhile, running backs Soso Jamabo and Bolu Olorunfunmi have combined to rush for 5.0 yards per carry this season and should help take some of the pressure off of Rosen with an effective ground game.
Reasons To Bet On The Arizona Wildcats
The Wildcats have leaned heavily on their run game with a pair of rushing quarterbacks in Brandon Dawkins and Khalil Tate. That tandem has combined for 853 passing yards and nearly 800 rushing yards. Tate replaced Dawkins in Arizona’s win over Colorado and played well but he will need more help if the Wildcats are going to continue to roll. The Bruins have an explosive offense so the Arizona offense will need to do its part in order to keep pace this weekend.
Outlook
Taking a look at the point spread for this game, it opened at a PICK but it has been moving around quite a bit. We saw it jump up to -1.5 for Arizona before coming back to a PICK, but then more action came in on Arizona to move up to -1.5. Clearly, bettors and odds makers seem to agree that these two teams are evening matched. The Wildcats don’t have a great home-field advantage but the Bruins aren’t exactly a reliable road bet either.
What bettors have agreed upon so far is that they’re expecting a high-scoring affair. We saw the total open at 76 at BetDSI but it has continued to climb with steady pressure on the over. At last check, the total was sitting at 79.5 as almost all of the action has come in on the over for this contest. Neither team really has a stellar defense.
The biggest issue for the Bruins is that their defense hasn’t been good enough to hold leads that their explosive offense has provided for them. UCLA has the weapons to win this game but they will need to do a better job keeping the Wildcats in check. If UCLA can slow them down, they will have an excellent chance to win on the road. However, Arizona’s offense has enough weapons to keep the Bruins defense off balance and as long as they keep the pressure on them they should be able to win at home. UCLA is just 3-8 against the spread against teams with a winning record so we can feel confident about taking the Wildcats to win at home. Look for Arizona to secure a close win at home to improve to 4-2 and remain in the Pac-12 race. Lay the points with the Wildcats in this spot.
Prediction: Arizona -1.5
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