This is a rematch of last year's Big 10 vs. PAC 12 showdown and UCLA shocked Nebraska 36-30 at home last year with a rookie head coach and a freshmen QB as they put up 653 yards on Nebraska. Things have not gotten any better for Nebraska's defense that allowed 1,229 yards in their final 2 games last year and now they bring back an undersized linebacking crew and have 10 freshmen playing in a two deep defensive roster. We saw Nebraska struggle in their first game against Wyoming as dual threat QB Brett Smith passed for 383 yards and ran for 92. Brett Hundley is much more athletic and more talented and has better weapons. Nebraska held on to beat Wyoming by only 3 in that game and UCLA will have an extra week to prepare for this game. The early start has been up for debate but UCLA practices at 7AM and have regular lift schedules before 6AM and I expect them to be ready by kickoff. It also helps that they return 4 of the 5 starting offensive linemen and RB Jordon James looks as good as Jonathan Franklin at RB.
UCLA's defense had a nice warm up against this type of offense when they faced Nevada's Cody Fajardo and the defense dominated. The real weakness of this unit is the secondary, but I still have a ton of doubts on Taylor Martinez ability to beat a defense that has terrific front 7 with athletic linebackers which UCLA does. Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks are good as any linebacking duo that Nebraska will see in the Big Ten and that's usually when Nebraska struggles. UCLA will be able to force this team to be one dimensional and their aggressive front 7 should be able to force some turnovers when they get some tackles for loss and force Nebraska into third and longs. UCLA was 6th in sack % last year and was even better on the road ranked 2nd with a 12.55% behind only South Carolina.
Bowling Green is a serious contender for the MAC title this year and facing Indiana should not fear them. This is a team that went into the swamp (Florida Gators) and were tied 14-14 last year as a very young team. Now this team returns 19 starters and is extremely deep. To put things in perspective they have 11 upper class-men with playing experience in the secondary alone. Indiana's up tempo offense should not phase this unit and I actually think they match up very well. For one Indiana is one dimensional thus far this season as their offensive line has been unable to get any sort of push up front for consistent runs while Bowling Green has always been very strong up front. This will force Indiana into a lot of third and longs on Saturday and Bowling Green was ranked 3rd in third down defense % allowing just 28.07% conversions a year ago. That also translated over the red zone where they held teams to 50% TD %. This defense was also +23 in sacks compared to what their offense gave up +21 tackles for loss and +4 turnovers.
Bowling Green will have a balanced offensive attack and they'll dominate the time of possession battle in this one as Indiana will struggle again on defense. They gave up 400 + yards rushing to Navy last week and they knew the run was coming. Indiana has lost the last two years in close games to Ball State at home and this Bowling Green team figures to be even better. I'll go with the defensive team in this one.
