A couple of teams off humiliating losses in their respective Pac-12 openers will return to the field on Saturday night when the Colorado Buffaloes invade Tinseltown looking to hand the UCLA Bruins a third straight defeat. For the visitors to be competitive in this matchup, it will need the offense to consistently put points on the board against what’s proven to be a very bad Bruins defense. If not, Josh Rosen is going to have a night that shortens up his odds to win the Heisman Trophy.
This matchup in Week 5 of the regular season will take place on Saturday, September 30, 2017, at 10:30 p.m. ET at the Rose Bowl. This game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Colorado +7
UCLA -7
O/U 66.5
Odds Analysis
There’s been absolutely no movement with the pointspread in this matchup with it still reading UCLA installed 7-point favorites like it did at the open. Take note that over 54 percent of the BookMaker.eu betting handle is riding the visitors who ended a five-game losing streak to the Bruins last season by scoring the 20-10 win and non-cover as 13.5-point home favorites. Colorado hasn’t won in the Rose Bowl since 2002.
The total has seen a bit of an uptick with over 55 percent of the action expecting a high scorer. This comes as no surprise. UCLA is giving up an average of 524.8 yards per game ( No. 125 ) to go along with 43.2 points per game ( No. 125 ). But does Colorado’s struggling offense have enough in it to take advantage? The betting public believes so with the over up to 68.5 from the 66.5-point opener. It wouldn’t be surprising to see this impost continue heading north come kick-off.
Player to Watch
Philip Lindsay – Currently on the Doak Walker Award list, the senior needs to start picking his game up if he’s to remain on it. Lindsay has gone for 446 yards on 90 carries which equates to a 5.0 yard per carry average through his first four games. However, he was kept under wraps last week against a fine Washington Huskies defense that rates out amongst the best in the nation at shutting opposing running games down.
The task at hand gets incredibly easier this week with the Bruins marching a stop unit onto the field that’s had no luck whatsoever against the run. To date, UCLA is giving up an average of 307.5 yards per game (No. 128 ) at 6.6 yards per carry ( No. 126 ). Even if Colorado’s shaky offensive line continues to have problems opening holes, Lindsay must find a way to take advantage of this Swiss cheese unit for his club to stick around in this game.
Key Stat
50% - Colorado is only allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 50 percent of their passes on the year ( No. 14 ). It just held U-Dub’s Jake Browning to an 11-of-21 showing last week, and only allowed the completed passes to go for 160 yards and a 1:1 TD/INT ratio. While Browning is a fine Pac-12 quarterback, he’s by no means Josh Rosen. The Bruins field general is in the running for the Heisman after completing 65.5 percent of his passes for 1,763 yards and a 16:4 TD/INT ratio. With Colorado likely attacking UCLA on the ground a majority of the game, it can’t afford to let Rosen go bonkers if it expects to log back-to-back wins in the rivalry.
Free ATS Pick
Many will be down on UCLA after dropping back-to-back matchups against Memphis and Stanford. However, each of those tilts occurred on the road. This one takes place back in the comforts of the Rose Bowl where the Bruins actually dropped three of their five home games in Pac-12 play a season ago. I expect them to come out fired up for this one for a couple of reasons. The first being to avenge last year’s loss in Boulder. The second would be to wash the bad taste from the last two weeks out of their mouths. You can’t help but love what Mike MacIntyre has done turning the Buffs’ program around, but his kids don’t stack up to what UCLA will bring to the table on Saturday night. Steven Montez is still too early in his progression to believe he can keep his squad competitive in this matchup all the way through.
College Football Odds: Bruins 41, Buffaloes 31
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