The UCLA Bruins travel north to Boulder to face the Colorado Buffaloes in a Pac-12 match-up on Thursday, November 3rd. The football game is set to get under way at 9:00 p.m. ET and will broadcast on the Fox sports 1 Network. As of now, the Buffaloes are -11.5 point favorites and the game’s total sits at 58.
The Bruins hold the all-time series lead over the buffaloes 9-2 but the gap between the two schools is definitely closing. Nevertheless, the Colorado Buffaloes have not defeated the UCLA Bruins since 2013. Last season, UCLA held on 35-31 in a tightly contested affair at home against Colorado.
UCLA (3-5):
The Bruins are heading into this match-up against the Buffaloes off of a bye week. The Bruins desperately need a win to keep their bowl hopes alive. Before their week off, the Bruins fell behind by half-time and couldn’t make up the difference against the Utah Utes. As a result, they were handed their fifth loss of the season 52-45.
Offensive captain Josh Rosen, is sidelined a shoulder injury, and there is no time-table for the quarterback’s return. Back-up Mike Fafaul has been filling in for him, and his game against the Utes saw the him throw for over 450 yards and five scores, but he also four interceptions.
UCLA’s running game has been unproductive all season long. Things weren’t much different last week against Utah as they rushed for a total of 46 yards on 16 carries. Three tail backs carry the ball and none of them are even over 4.0 yards a carry. Altogether, they have over 550 yards and seven scores.
The Bruins wide receivers have definitely pulled their own weight in 2016. Five ball catchers have over 20 grabs, and all but one have three touchdowns or more. As a unit, they have amassed 126 catches for over 1,700 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Defensively, the Bruins are ranked 38th in the country, allowing only 368 yards per contest. Unfortunately, their last effort against the Utes was an enigma as Utah’s offense put up 54 points. For the year, the defense is giving up only 26 points a game.
#20 Colorado (6-2):
The Buffaloes are also coming into this football game off of a bye week. In their last two games, Colorado took down the Sun Devils in Boulder and backed it up with a tough 10-5 road win at Stanford.
Since returning to duty, the Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau has guided them to two straight victories. The trooper has been nicked-up throughout the season but still has thrown for almost 1,200 yards with seven touchdowns and no picks. Liufau will run the football if needed, gathering another 200 yards and three scores.
Phillip Lindsay and Kyle Evans run the ball out of the back field for the Buffaloes. Between the two tail backs, they have amassed almost 1,100 yards and 12 trips to pay-dirt. Lindsay is responsible for nine of the 12 trips to the end zone.
Colorado uses three wide receivers to move the chains through the air. Their stats almost mirror one another, with each wide out catching over 30 passes. Furthermore, all three receivers have reached the promised land on numerous occasions. Shay Fields leads the trio with 563 yards and six touchdowns.
The strength of the Colorado Buffaloes in 2016 is their defense. Last time out against the Cardinal, the defense was spectacular allowing only 263 yards of total offense and only 93 yards via ground. Even more impressively, the Buffaloes are allowing only their opposition 13 points a contest.
Trends and Notes:
The Bruins are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games.
The Buffaloes are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 home games.
The Under is 6-2-1 in the Bruins last 9 conference games.
The Under is 4-0 in the Buffaloes last 4 games overall.
The Underdog is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 meetings.
Game Prediction:
The Bruins hope to get their much maligned running attack going so their new signal-caller wont have to throw the ball 70 times again. That will be easier said than done against a stout Colorado Buffalo run defense.
Colorado will try to keep their balanced attack and mix up the run and the pass to keep the Bruin’s opportunistic defense on their heels. The extra week’s rest certainly helped Sefo Liufau finish healing up, so he should be 100 percent for this one.
The over/under 58 seems a little high, considering both defensive units have found success against their opponents this year. Also, both of these Pac-12 schools aren’t offensive juggernauts by any stretch of the imagination. Go with the numbers and take the under in this one. The numbers point to a game in the mid to high 40’s at best.
