After a strong start to the season, the UCLA Bruins have hit a wall in recent weeks. Injuries have played a big role in their turnaround as they have dropped three of their last four heading in to a difficult portion of their schedule to close out the season. Next up for the Bruins is the Arizona State Sun Devils, which have won three of their last four to improve to 5-4 on the season. Arizona State has already taken down two ranked teams this season and will look to finish the season strong with a chance to reach eight wins if they can win their next three games. The key storyline to this game has been the status of Josh Rosen. UCLA’s star quarterback missed last week’s action with a concussion. With him back in the lineup, UCLA has a chance to win this game. Otherwise, they’d likely be taking another loss.
Details
Odds: UCLA -2.5
Date & Time: Saturday November 11th, 2017 – 9:30 PM ET
Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Broadcast: Pac-12 Network
Reasons To Bet On The Arizona State Sun Devils
The Sun Devils have already taken down the Ducks and Huskies in the Pac-12. Now they are hoping that a strong finish could put them over the top in the Pac-12. Arizona State is coming off another big win over the Colorado Buffaloes. The Sun Devils will wrap up their season with back-to-back road games at UCLA and Oregon State before finishing against the Arizona Wildcats at home. The Sun Devils have found ways to win a lot of close games this year thanks in large part to an offense that has averaged 29.8 points per game. Quarterback Manny Wilkins has thrown for 2,298 yards and 11 touchdowns compared to only three interceptions. He will need another strong performance on Saturday if Arizona State is going to come out on top in this key road clash.
Reasons To Bet On The UCLA Bruins
The Bruins relied heavily on their passing game on offense with Josh Rosen under center. Rosen has thrown for 2,700 yards and 20 touchdowns, but an injury left UCLA in a tough spot last week. That led to a blowout loss at Utah. Remember, the Bruins are also without tight end Caleb Wilson and wideout Darren Andrews, who are lost for the season. These two players were among the best weapons that UCLA had. That’s why without them and without Rosen, this team was not fully functional last week.
Running back Bolu Oloranfunmi has rushed for 405 yards and should feature heavily against Arizona State this week. Meanwhile, the UCLA defense has struggled as well. The Bruins have allowed an average of 38.8 points per game this season. They haven’t been able to stop the run against anyone. UCLA will need to tighten things up defensively if they are even going to have a shot in this game.
Outlook
We’ve seen this betting line move around quite a bit as there was uncertainty with Rosen’s status. He had missed the previous game with a concussion but it looks like he’ll be ready for this week. Early reports suggest that he’ll be cleared. The game opened up at a PICK but we’ve seen it shift to -2.5 as Rosen is an important cog. He’s one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football. The total hasn’t been impacted as much. It opened up at 66.5 but it has only slightly crept up to 67.5.
Arizona State is 5-1 against the spread in its last six games overall and but road games have been a challenge for them. They have just one road win in three tries. The Sun Devils own an offense that is firing on all cylinders and should have no problem putting up big point totals against the Bruins. While UCLA is just 1-6 against the spread in its last seven games overall, they should be able to get on track here against an overrated Arizona State side. With Rosen back in the lineup, look for UCLA to edge out Arizona State.
Pick: UCLA -2.5
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