NCAA Football
2012-08-30 - UCLA Bruins at Rice Owls
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: College Football
Thursday 30 August 2012 - Kick Off 7:30pm ET
12:30am (British Time)
Preview
The UCLA Bruins got to play in the PAC-12 Championship Game last season, but mainly down to the fact that the South Division didn't really have much competition with USC being Bowl ineligible. They removed their Head Coach after three defeats to end the season and have appointed Jim Mora to take over those duties and they will be looking to get off to a good start.
They should be able to get going as they face the inexperienced Rice Owls that bringing back 10 starters this season and are coming off a 4-8 season. Rice look like one of the weaker teams in the Conference USA and this looks like a season where they will be rebuilding for the future.
The Owls have had three losing records in a row since posting a 10-3 record in 2008 and it says a lot that they have just matched that win record in the last three seasons combined.
Rice can get the ball moving through the air, but they are facing a Bruins Defense whose strength looks to be in defending the pass. In fact, the whole Bruins Defense looks tougher than a season ago and they could make life very difficult for the Owls to get something going consistently.
On the other side of the ball, Jonathan Franklin should be able to run the ball effectively for UCLA and that should open up the passing game where the Bruins can attack a Rice Secondary that allowed 32 touchdowns through the air last season.
With 16 starters on both sides of the ball, the Bruins are expecting big things this season. However, they need to show their hand on the field in this game rather than taking verbal shots at USC as Jim Mora did in a press conference a couple of weeks ago.
Head to Head
This is the fifth meeting between the schools- UCLA have won the previous four games, but they are 1-1 against the spread in the last two games.
This will be the first time they have played at Rice since 1966.
Other Interesting Trends
Rice are 5-1-1 against the spread in their last 7 games as the home underdog.
They are 8-21 against the spread in their last 29 non-Conference games.
UCLA are 5-2 against the spread in their last 7 games as a road favourite laying at least 10.5 points.
However, they are just 2-10 against the spread in their last 12 road games.
Prediction
I am going to go against the inexperienced Rice Owls in this one and back the UCLA Bruins to cover the spread for the following reasons:
First, the Bruins did struggle in non-Conference games last season, but they have a new Head Coach, plenty of experience and were 8-2 against the spread in non-Conference games before last season.
Second, while UCLA are very experienced, Rice are the opposite with only 10 starters coming back and they are 6-12 against the spread in non-Conference games under David Bailiff.
Third, the Bruins just look the team that are going to have much more consistent success in moving the chains in this game and should be able to put up enough points to cover the spread.
The Pick :
Rice Owls 13-34 UCLA Bruins
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the UCLA Bruins - 16.5 Points @ 1.95
