I’m not sure UCLA can get up for playing a team that’s 5-7. Nebraska however, had 5 losses by 5 points or fewer. Nebraska definitely has a lot of motivation in this game when you consider they are 1 of 3 teams with 5 wins. They also lost to UCLA the last two years, and this is a very different Nebraska team compared to the team UCLA played the last few years. Nebraska will chuck the ball around the field, and they can stop the run. Nebraska is 8th in the nation in stopping the run, and that’s an important factor in this game as UCLA will rely heavily on their running game. They average over 200 yards per game in their 8 wins, but under 150 in their losses. Nebraska has not allowed a single opponent over 200 yards rushing this season and just 3 over 150. I’m expecting that stat to be a big reason why this is a close game and with nearly a TD to play with the value is on Nebraska.

I mentioned motivation for Nebraska who has several players quoting how great of an opportunity this game is. Offensive lineman Ryne Reeves said, “I think it’s a great opportunity for us to show that we’re a better team than what our record says.” I also love the fact that they lost twice to UCLA in recent memory and that their head coach Mike Riley beat Jim Mora when he was at Oregon State.

The biggest key in this game though is Tommy Armstrong. Nebraska will lose if we get the very bad Tommy, but they can still cover this spread with him throwing a couple of picks, but I think what he will bring to the table is his mobility in this game. Armstrong averages over 5 yards per carry when he is not sacked and the UCLA defense has had plenty of issues with the few mobile QB’s they have faced this year. Jim Mora’s teams have had so many issues against athletic QB’s since he’s been here and Armstrong is arguably the best one he will face this year. I think Armstrong will be the difference in this game, this team is better in the red zone because of him converting TD’s at a 71% clip compared to UCLA’s average 61%, they defend on third downs and in the red zone. Nebraska’s biggest weakness is their pass defense, but they are more of a bend but don’t break unit, and against Josh Rosen I think they can force him into mistakes. Nebraska is far better in special teams ranked 28th in efficiency to UCLA’s 71st, and their defense can create more negative plays. I think the Pac 12 is down a bit this year, and there is not much that separates them from the Big 10 when you look at head to heads this year I would say the Big 10 is the better conference. Pac 12 went 2-3 this season vs. the Big 10, and were embarrassed in the national championship game last year as Oregon lost to Ohio State. Their only wins were questionable with Washington State barely getting by Rutgers 37-34, and Michigan losing at Utah to open the season because of a ton of turnovers. Otherwise Northwestern beat Stanford by 10 the PAC 12’s best team, and Michigan State handled Oregon while Michigan also handled Oregon State.

Where to find Freddy?