Friday Night Lights: UCLA Bruins vs. Colorado Buffaloes

Friday night brings another installment of Pac-12 after dark as the UCLA Bruins head into the state of Colorado to take on the Buffalos. UCLA is 0-3 on the season thus far and Colorado is 3-0. The Chip Kelly led Bruins had some lofty expectations coming into the season and they haven’t acted on any of those dropping their first three games of the year.

The Buffs, on the other hand, are taking care of their business and have ran through their non-conference schedule thus far. Colorado are the home favorites on Friday night on both teams conference openers as they open the spread as 10 point favorites.

Bruins Looking to Find Ways to Score

UCLA has dropped their three games by a combined score of 113-52. Two of those losses came to teams who aren’t from Power 5 conferences as the Bruins dropped their opener to Cincinnati 26-17 and last week fell to Fresno State 38-14. The one good team they have played thus far has been 5th ranked Oklahoma, a team they lost to 49-21. UCLA has not been good at all on offense or defense.

They have allowed 403 yards per game while only gaining 319 yards a game. UCLA has a freshman quarterback manning the helm which has led to a few rough games. Dorian Thompson-Robinson has completed 41-of-75 passes for 522 yards this year. He has thrown two touchdowns but also two interceptions. The rushing attack is led by Kazmeir Allen, a freshman, who has run for 161 yards and a touchdown on just 21 carries.

The running game is there but the passing game hasn’t quite caught up to it yet which allows the defense to prey on one dimension knowing that the other won’t hurt them too badly. The defense has been awful giving up so many yards and 174 of the 403 has come on the ground. Seeing this, opposing offenses can lick their chops when playing UCLA due to the reality that they are going to be getting so many open looks on the ground.

Buffaloes Looking to Stay Dominant

Colorado, on the other hand, has been dominating their competition. They beat Colorado State 45-13, took down Nebraska 33-28 on the road, and beat New Hampshire last week 45-14. This is a team who hasn’t played top-notch competition but have thoroughly handled them.

UCLA may be the best team they have faced all year and that is saying something. They move the ball very well on offense to a tune of 494 yards a game. They mix up their runs and passes very well gaining 290 through the air and 204 on the ground a game. On defense, they are stout allowing 373 yards a game. Once they get into the PAC-12 schedule, the defense will have to get a lot better but against a team like UCLA it will be okay to allow some yards because they just aren’t going to stop you.

Colorado’s quarterback Steven Montez is a junior who has thrown for 855 yards and eight touchdowns this year. The running back, Travon McMillian is almost just as impressive with 290 yards on 33 attempts and three touchdowns.

Pick and Prediction

Look for Colorado to get out and move the ball quickly in this one. UCLA doesn’t have the defense this year to really stop anyone, as you can see by the results of their previous game. Colorado should be able to stop UCLA as they have some talent and if UCLA hasn’t move the ball to this point, they won’t be able to against Colorado. Look for Colorado to cover the spread and easily take the win. Bet on Colorado as 10 point favorites.