Surprisingly, there’s not a lot of buzz surrounding the No. 16 UCLA Bruins this season. UCLA has the best sophomore quarterback in the country in Josh Rosen and he shined for most of the season. He and the Bruins are field-goal underdogs in Week 1 College Football action against the Texas AM Aggies and will be looking to prove the oddsmakers wrong. Whether or not they do that or not, depends in large part on just how good Rosen plays.
Watch this regular season Week 1 matchup live on Saturday, September 3, 2016, at 3:30 p.m. ET at Kyle Field. This game will be broadcast on CBS.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
UCLA +3
Texas AM -3
Over/Under 53.5
Odds Analysis
This game has fluctuated a lot, with the Aggies opening as 1.5-point favorites before the line went up to 3.5. The spread has since come back down a bit to a field goal. The same has been the case with the total. The over/under appeared on screens at 54 and rose all the way to 57 before falling back down to where it currently sits.
Player to Watch
Texas AM went from having a plethora of young talent at the quarterback position to none after five-star recruits Kyler Murray and Kyle Allen both decided to transfer in the offseason. There were huge question marks about the position before the Aggies added graduate transfer Trevor Knight from Oklahoma.
Knight gave way to Baker Mayfield and Texas AM was fortunate to land him. He dazzled against Alabama a few years back in the Sugar Bowl, but has struggled with his consistency and accuracy since that moment. He is prone to making mistakes, as evidenced by his 12 interceptions over 10 games in 2014 and Kevin Sumlin will need to address this. Knight is able to run very well and it will be interesting to see how Texas AM uses him in that aspect.
Matchup to Watch
Will UCLA be able to block Myles Garrett and the Texas AM defensive line? That’s the million-dollar question in this game. Garrett was a First Team All-American last season and wreaked havoc on offensive lines throughout the SEC. He has been unleashed with John Chavis as his defensive coordinator and the Bruins will have their hands full stopping him.
Even if Garrett wasn’t on the defensive line, this would be a tough matchup for UCLA’s offensive line. The Bruins only have two returning starters on the unit and must stop Daeshon Hall and Daylon Mack in addition to Garrett. For the Bruins to win, the offensive line needs to give Rosen time to find receivers and this is the most important battle of the game.
Free ATS Pick
The Aggies return virtually all of their receiving corps from last year and that’s good news for Knight. The foursome they have is as talented as any in the country and will get open against UCLA’s secondary. He just needs to be able to read the offense well enough to find the openings.
UCLA was expected to have one of the better defenses in the conference last season, but injuries to Eddie Vanderdoes and others did the team in. This season the Bruins return Vanderdoes and nine other starters and should be vastly improved. If they can avoid the lapses that have plagued this unit in the past, they could have a very nice season.
The Aggies have the edge at defensive line and receiver, but the Bruins have a generational talent at quarterback and he will be the difference here. Despite throwing behind a very young line in 2015, Rosen made good decisions and got the ball out quick. That led to UCLA only allowing 15 sacks in 2015, 26 less than the number it allowed in 2014. Rosen may get sacked a few times, but is too good to fall to the Aggies.
College Football Odds: Bruins 27, Aggies 24
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