Saturday night College Football and we will see the Memphis Tigers take on the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, California. The game has a start time of 10:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Current Vegas odds have the Bruins listed as 23 point favorites, while the total is set at 56.5.
Analysis: The Memphis Tigers had a dismal 3-9 year in 2013, which now has them at 12-48 the last 5 years. There is hope for them this year as a stout defense, an improved offense and a manageable schedule could give them their first bowl appearance since 2007. The Memphis Tigers are off an impressive 63-0 win over Austin Peay, but now they take a step up in competition. The Tigers rolled up 545 yards of total offense, including 303 yards on the ground. The ground attack was led by Jarvis Cooper, who ran for 101 yards and 1 TD on just 8 carries. That a nice and tidy 12.4 ypc. Paxton Lynch was solid behind center, hitting 20 of 27 passes for 242 yards and TDs. He did have an INT but didn’t hurt the team at all. The defense was very impressive, as they allowed just 146 yards of total offense, including just 30 through the air, while also allowing just 1 of 13 on 3rd down. It was a complete beatdown by the Tigers here.
Jim Mora has changed the culture of the UCLA Bruins, but guiding then to a 9-5 and a 10-3 season in his first 2 years, after they had losing seasons in 4 of their previous 5 years. This year he has 17 starters back including a Heisman contending QB and is ready to possibly make a run at a national title. The Bruins last week were in a really tough scheduling spot and they really played sluggish all game long. Their OL struggled and so did Hundley as he hit just 20 of 33 passes for 242 yards. The ground attack also struggled as they rushed for 116 yards on just 3.0 ypc. Lead the ground attack was Paul Perkins, who rumbled for 80 yards on 19 carries. Very did disturbing overall was the fact that the Bruins scored just 7 points on offense, while their other 21 points in the game came on defense. That defense allowed 386 yards overall and 266 yards on the ground, so that was a rather disappointing effort from that side of the ball as well.
Pick: I really like the Bruins to bounce back here. They had a rough game vs Virginia, but were also in a tough scheduling spot and tey also played a Virginia defense that was for real. Now they are at home vs a Memphis team that is off a 63-0 win over Austin Peay. Even though that was vs an FCS foe, it still should have the Bruin focused for this game. UCLA has been hearing all week "What is wrong with the Bruins?". Well they will show the nation that their is nothing wrong with them after they win this one by 30+.
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