I had Virginia in the first game of the year as a home dog last year playing a team traveling from the West Coast and it was in fact Virginia's most impressive win. Virginia hosts UCLA who comes all the way from LA to play a game at noon. It's an interesting match up with the hype of UCLA with many saying they have a shot at being 1 of the 4 teams in the playoff at the end of the year. Brett Hundley is also getting hype as a Heisman candidate but I'm not buying into this.
Hundley is known for making mistakes especially on the road. He takes way too many sacks and this Virginia defense returns 10 guys on a very aggressive unit that can force you into mistakes. All of their linebackers return including their bakc ups and the defense is as talented as any with more blue chip recruits and their secondary is just loaded with depth and 4* recruits. Hundley was sacked 35 times last year and the fact that he has to replace 3 offensive line starter and he also lost his top target in Shaq Evans is going to create a drop down in the early going.
I have not forgotten about UCLA's defense it is very strong and has a lot of talent in the front, but on the road they were not dominant in stopping the run and Virginia does have 4 and 5 * recruits at RB behind an experienced and big offensive line. UCLA's defense did lose their best pass rushers in Anthony Barr and Cassius Mash along with Kenan Graham. The depth of the front 7 is a concern and if Virginia can stick to the run they should have a chance at winning this game by forcing turnovers and smart clock management.
Arkansas +18.5 3.3* College Assurance[/]
Bret Bielema is a damn fine coach and despite the results last year he was not that far away. Bielema loves to trash talk the tempo offense and now he gets his shot after an entire off season to prepare. Look for him to run the ball and kill the clock in this one and he should have no issue doing so. Auburn's defense is far from elite and they gave up 200+ yards rushing to 6 teams last year including Arkansas. This team actually gave up a more yards to power running teams which is exactly what Arkansas is with RB's Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams.
Overall Auburn's offense is much better and they are going to be hard to stop but I expect Arkansas can limit their possessions and I do like their defense a bit better along with the impressive hires they did for the defense gives me plenty of confidence and value on taking Arkansas at +18.5.
