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NCAA Football – Week 4

The Pac-12 is going to have a heck of a lot of publicity this week, and the first of the big time clashes on the gridiron on the NCAA football odds pits the Oregon State Beavers against the UCLA Bruins.

We really don’t know a whole heck of a lot about the Beavers yet this year. They have beaten the Wisconsin Badgers at home in a game in which the Reser Stadium faithful stormed the field, but all of a sudden, virtually everyone looks like they can beat the Badgers. There hasn’t been a game aside from that this for OSU. We know that Head Coach Mike Riley is in some trouble right now, and though the win against Wisky was one of the biggest that he has had over the course of the last few years, he just isn’t really that safe without a bowl game for the Beavs. QB Sean Mannion is going to grow into one of the better passers in the Pac-12 by the time his career is said and done with, but he really didn’t do all that much against the Badgers two weeks ago. Instead, it was the Oregon State defense that did the job, holding down Wisky to just 207 total yards of offense.

In a Pac-12 where the USC Trojans are still considered to have the most talent, the Stanford Cardinal have been on the map for the last four years, the Oregon Ducks are always the most fun team in the land to watch, and the Arizona Wildcats have the hip, new head coach in Rich Rodriguez that might be able to take them to the promised land, UCLA almost seems lost in the shuffle. Little do most know that, against a schedule that included a legit road game (albeit against the Rice Owls), a Top 10 foe (Nebraska Cornhuskers), and a team that was in the BCS discussion last year (Houston Cougars), the Bruins are 3-0, 3-0 ATS, and are averaging 622.0 yards per game. Freshman QB Brett Hundley has been one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in his first three starts, throwing for 827 yards and eight scores and rushing for another 119 yards and a TD. RB Johnathan Franklin could touch 2,000 yards on the ground this year, as he has 541 yards and three TDs, and he doesn’t even have half the carries on the team.

Prediction:

These Bruins are dangerous. In fact, they’re very, very dangerous. If Hundley plays (and that’s still a big ‘if’ with his ankle injury), UCLA might be not just one of the best teams in the Pac-12, but one of the best teams in the country. This mysterious Oregon State team really shouldn’t have a chance to get the job done in LA. UCLA 38 – Oregon State 20