Nebraska vs. UCLA Preview & Prediction (CollegeFootballNews.com)

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Nebraska vs. UCLA Preview, Prediction
by Pete Fiutak, CollegeFootballNews.com

The UCLA fun hit a snag -- Indiana.

Just when it seemed like the Bruins found something special on a three-game winning streak, reality dropped a hammer in a 56-6 loss in Bloomington. But they're still good, and they still have a shot to screw someone up.

If they get a win the rest of the way, with Ohio State, Washington, and USC after this, it'll be fantastic.

On the other side, the Huskers got bowl eligible -- not a given over the last several years -- and they gave USC a hard time, but they lost the game, and star quarterback Dylan Raiola was lost for the year to a broken leg.

But if they can win this, they'd stay alive for a ten-win season with Penn State and Cockeye to close.

Nebraska at UCLA
Saturday, November 8 - 9:00 PM (ET) - FOX

Why Nebraska Will Win
UCLA has become a turnover machine, and not in a good way.

It had a few issues keeping up against Indiana, but everyone is having problems with the Hoosiers at the moment. The three turnovers didn't help the cause, but that was the Bruins trying to keep pace.

The three turnovers against Maryland made it harder than it had to be to get out with a win.

More than ever, Nebraska has to rely on its defense. It's got issues, but when it forces takeaways, it wins.

But more than that, Nebraska has to take it easy on offense and keep moving the chains. UCLA might be better, but it can't do anything to come up with a third down stop. Grind it out with the running game, and ......

Why UCLA Will Win
Can the Nebraska offense work without Raiola?

This wasn't exactly the Greatest Show on Turf with #15 in there, and now it's likely up to TJ Lateef. He runs far better than Raiola does, but can the offense turn it loose with him under center?

UCLA doesn't have to be a brick wall defensively, but it has to avoid getting gouged. As long as it's keeping the Husker running game to around 150 yards, everything will be okay.

But this is more about the Bruins' own ground attack. It won the three times it went off, and that's where Nico Iamaleava's legs come into play. When he's moving, UCLA can turn games into shootouts so ........

What's Going to Happen
Not to get too basic here, but who will run better and who will stop the run? Nebraska loses when it gets ripped up on the ground. It also lost to those good rushing teams because they were good -- they stopped the Akrons and Houston Christians of the world.

And to push this further, UCLA wins when it runs and runs and runs. The three wins came when it had more than 30 carries.

Only Northwestern and Cincinnati failed to run more than 30 times on Nebraska, and those two ran 30 times each and rumbled at will.

It'll come down to a late field goal in a fun game.

Prediction
UCLA 23, Nebraska 20

Spread
UCLA is favored at home by 1.5 points

 

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Other Big Ten picks

INDIANA (-14.5) at PENN STATE
Again, Penn State doesn’t have the pop. Ethan Grunkemeyer has yet to throw a touchdown pass since taking over for Allar, and it’s been a struggle just to hit passes. Doing that at Cockeye and Ohio State didn’t help, and dealing with Indiana doesn’t make anything better. No, this isn’t the same Hoosier team on the road as it is on the road, but it’ll get through this with a bit of a fight. The Nittany Lions will show up, but Indiana is too sharp, too focused, and too good. Penn State will get a few big runs, and the defense will be good in the first half, but …Nothing stops. The Crimson Red Machine rolls on. Indiana 34, Penn State 17

MARYLAND (-1.5) at RUTGERS
Neither team has a decent win. Between the two teams, there are two FCS wins, three against the MAC, a Florida Atlantic thrown in there, Purdue and Wisconsin. Something has to give. Three of the four Maryland losses this year were by four points or fewer in games they should've won, and Rutgers just pulled the 27-24 victory over Purdue out of the fire. Rutgers is at home, but Maryland is better. It should make for a solid under-the-radar afternoon game. Maryland 31, Rutgers 27

NORTHWESTERN at USC (-14.5)
These are college kids, and it shouldn’t matter, but the second half will start at around 10:30 pm Chicago time. Northwestern will do a good enough job defensively to keep this from getting out of hand, but USC will get up early, and the defense will hold on from there. The Wildcats won’t have the second half pop to pull this off, with two turnovers opening it up a little bit. USC 34, Northwestern 17

OHIO STATE (-29.5) at PURDUE
Ohio State’s defense will keep the Boilermakers from doing much of anything. The Buckeyes are all business. They’re better, they’re playing like it, and there’s nothing that fazes this bunch. This will be a day for the running game. That’s the one slight glitch. Ohio State hasn’t hit 170 rushing yards against any power conference team - Texas is thrown in there - with most of the ground game production against Grambling and Ohio. That changes this week with well over 40 carries for the first time all year. Ohio State 38, Purdue 6

OREGON (-6.5) at Cockeye
Poor Oregon. Poor.......poor Oregon. It doesn't have an amazing win now that Penn State stinks, the CFP metrics apparently weren't kind, and instead of being good enough to settle into the No. 3 spot, it's barely pushing its way into the top ten rankings. Cockeye is hot after its own win over Penn State and that 41-3 win over Minnesota, it played Indiana better than the Ducks did. Though favored, Oregon is on the road. It won't be easy -- nothing against Cockeye is -- but two explosive plays, and a special day from the nation's No. 1 pass defense, will get it out of Cockeye City alive. Oregon 24, Cockeye 17

WASHINGTON (-11.5) at WISCONSIN
At some point, Wisconsin is going to pull a strong performance out of its Bucky. The defense hasn’t been bad. On the flip side, considering there’s no offense, the D has held up shockingly well. This has to be an ugly, low-scoring game with a few breaks to finally go the home UW’s way. They won’t. The passing game is too bad, and because of it, the ground attack isn’t going anywhere. Washington 26, Wisconsin 10