Arizona Football to have ‘White Out’ against UCLA

Following a much-needed bye week, Arizona Football (0-4, 0-1) returns to action for a ‘White Out’ against the UCLA Bruins (3-2, 1-1).

We are officially past the bye week, which hopefully means that Arizona Football was able to hit refresh and get refocused for their matchup against UCLA this weekend.

Coming in, the Wildcats are still looking for that elusive first win on the season, and with it being a ‘White Out’ in Tucson, perhaps Arizona could score the surprise upset.

The Bruins enter this one after suffering a big loss to ASU at home last weekend, however, UCLA still has enough talent here that they should be able to come away with the victory.

Together, this is a group that still beat LSU and Stanford, so the talent is there, however, the coaching will need to be, otherwise, a surprise loss to Arizona could make things uncomfortable for head coach Chip Kelly and his future in Pasadena.

Getting to Know the details with Arizona Football’s matchup against the UCLA Bruins

Team: UCLA Bruins

Conference: Pac-12

2020 Record: Finishing with a 3-4 (3-4) record in the abbreviated Covid season, UCLA ended the year with a 48-47 double-overtime loss to Stanford

Head Coach: Chip Kelly enters his 4th season with the Bruins as the head coach having compiled a 13-23 record at UCLA. Despite having a 59-30 overall record, and finding immense success at Oregon, it has been a slow build with UCLA.

Key Returners/ Starters:

Offense

Running a spread, this is a group that is largely led behind the play of quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The Bruins’ signal-caller can do it both his arm and legs and is a big reason this group averages 400 yards and 35 points per game.

In the backfield, they use a couple of talented backs in Zach Charbonnet and Brittan Brown, the both have combined for over 700 yards rushing with 10 touchdowns. In addition, DTR is always a threat to run the ball as well.

Lastly, the Bruins have some talented down-field threats, with Kyle Phillips (WR), Greg Dulcich (TE), and Kam Brown (WR) leading the way.

Defense

Defensively, this is a group that is decent but has struggled at times, surrendering an average of 28.6 points per game. However, the Bruins excel in the box, holding teams to just 87.4 yards rushing per game, and also do well in pressuring the quarterback.

Overall, this is a group that is largely led by playmakers that include Qwuantrezz Knight (DB), Mitchell Agude (LB), Jordan Genmark-Heath (S/LB), Bo Calvert (LB), and Carl Jones (DB/LB).

Key Injuries/Absences: 

UCLA

• WR – Delon Hurt (Suspended) – Hurt is out for the entire season due to an off-field incident.

Arizona 

• LB – Jabar Triplett (Knee) – Still recovering from offseason knee surgery.

Game Information: 

When: Saturday, October 9th, 2021

Time: 7:30 PM MST (Arizona Time)

Watch: ESPN, FuboTV 

Spread: +16.0 Arizona (Also, don’t forget to use WynnBet to enhance your betting experience)

Where: Arizona Stadium – Tucson, AZ (57,400)

Overall Series Record: 26-17-2 UCLA. The Bruins lead this series after having won seven of the last nine meetings, including two of the last three.

Last Meeting vs. Arizona: The last time these two teams met, Arizona lost 27-10 to the Bruins in Pasadena in 2020.

My Prediction: UCLA 31 Arizona 23 – I think Arizona gives a competitive effort and keeps this one close, but after the Bruins were throttled by ASU at home, UCLA responds and uses their talent to come away with the win here in Tucson.