UCLA Bruins at Cal Golden Bears (Saturday – 10:30pm ET)
The nightcap for the primetime games on Saturday will be a PAC-12 after dark special. Or at least it was, once upon a time. Now UCLA is in the Big Ten and Cal is in the ACC, but they get together in Week 1 for a terrific non-conference game.
Obviously, Week 1 has been on the board for months now, and we’ve seen the favorite in the game switch. Cal opened the short favorite at home, but it’s been mostly money on the underdog Bruins. Now UCLA is a growing road favorite, but I do happen to agree with the move.
I’ve been in this position before and learned the hard way what the Bears have at the QB position. I backed Oregon State as a home underdog in Week 1 last season. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, then a freshman QB for Cal, showed right away that he’s an NFL prospect and torched the Beavers.
JKS is back with some valuable experience under his belt, and should be one of the best signal callers in the country. He also has an improved WR room, giving the passing game for Cal some high upside. However, both the offensive and defensive line could struggle in this game, and I believe it’ll be won by the Bruins in the trenches.
UCLA will be a hard nosed and physical team, led by Bob Chesney. I’m a big believer in Chesney’s ability to step in and build culture with the Bruins. What Chesney did at James Madison is wildly impressive — take a team that was in the FCS just five years ago into the FBS College Football Playoff!
Winning the trenches is my biggest key to the game, and I heavily favor UCLA there. But, the Bruins have a QB of their own, with Nico Iamaleava back under center. The five star transfer from Tennessee should be in line to take a step forward after some struggles under the poor coaching staff UCLA had in place last season.
I’m a believer in JKS, but Cal has flaws. I trust UCLA to make big improvements under Chesney, and that starts on Saturday night in Week 1 against the Golden Bears. I’ll back UCLA to get the win.
CFB Pick: UCLA ML (-125)
