Tweet
Top game -
UCLA +7.5 vs Tennessee - UCLA brings in ex-Bruin Rick Neuheisel as new HC. Also new is OC Norm Chow who, in addition to having lots of NFL experience, had great success at USC under Pat Carroll where he was part of 2 national championship teams. Since Ben Olson and Pat Cowan are injured, Chow will be working with junior college transfer (and former San Diego St backup) QB Kevin Craft, who only threw for 4,231 yards and 44 TDs at Mt. San Antonio College last year. UCLA returns RB Kahlil Bell who ran for 795 yds and 5 TD's last year, with a healthy 5.6 YPC average. Overall there are just 6 returning starters on offense, but there is lots of talent and with Chow running the offense I would not expect scoring to be a problem. DeWayne Walker returns as DC for the third year. His rushing defense has been awesome the past couple years and last year finished ranked 14th in the nation. His stop unit overall finished an excellent 29th in the nation. Kicking and punting should be a strong suit as PK Kai Forbath returns (25-30 FG, 30-30 PAT and 5 for 5 FG over 50 yds), as well as punter Aaron Perez who ranked 2nd in the conference and 29th in the nation in avg distance (42.3 yds). UCLA finished 6-6 last year with a 4-2 home record. They finished off the year with a hard-fought 17-16 loss to BYU in their bowl game.
Tennessee comes in ranked 18th to start the year, returning 8 starters on offense and 6 on defense. They lose starting QB Eric Ainge, but RB Arian Foster (1193 yds, 12 TD's) returns in the backfield as well as their top two receivers from last year. They will be breaking in a new QB in Jonathan Crompton, as well as a new OC in Dave Clawson, who comes over from Div 1-AA Richmond. The Vols were 7-0 at home last year, but just 2-3 on the road, including a 45-31 loss at Cal to open the season. They finished the regular season at 9-3, and then lost to LSU in the SEC Championship before edging Wisconsin in their bowl appearance. One of their 2 road wins though was a tough 52-50 , 4OT win at Kentucky. The Tennessee defense was nothing to write home about as they finished ranked near the bottom of their conference and 70th overall in the nation, with pretty equal rankings in both rushing and passing 'D'. I would imagine both teams kicking/special teams to be fairly close, with no huge advantage either way.
By my way of thinking, Tennessee always seems to be a little over-rated, like many SEC teams, to begin the season. I think expecting them to travel all the way across the country and beat a well-coached, defensive team like UCLA in their own backyard, and by more than a TD, is a little much. UCLA should be better than they were a year ago, even with Craft at QB.
Rutgers -3 vs Fresno St - Fresno St returns 17 starters...10 on offense...which always seems to impress some people. Seems to me a lot was made out of all of Miami-OH's returning starters in their first game vs Vanderbilt. The line was bet up from 1 to around 4, I think, and they actually ended up losing big. In this one, Rutgers opened at around -5 and it has now been bet down to just 3. Fresno St.'s defense was ranked a very mediocre 73rd in the nation last year (85th in rushing/56th in passing) and were just 71st in passing offense. They did beat a mediocre Kansas St team, and they did beat Georgia Tech in their bowl game, but other than that they had a really easy schedule and lost most of the big games (Texas A&M, Oregon, Boise St, Hawaii).
Rutgers will have to replace 3 starters on the OL, as well as RB Ray Rice, but they do also return 17 starters (8 on 'O'/9 on 'D'). They ranked 17th in the nation in total 'D' last year (60th vs the rush/5th vs the pass) and 18th in total offense. They've supposedly got some dinged up linemen who have been held out of some recent practices, but I wouldn't put it past Coach Schiano to exaggerate things a bit when he says "Someone will play. We're not going to play with 10. It just won't be at the level guys were at, not any more (if reserves are needed on the offensive line)."
The line is now Rutgers -3, which I think is very reasonable. I like Rutgers in this one.
UCLA +7.5 vs Tennessee - UCLA brings in ex-Bruin Rick Neuheisel as new HC. Also new is OC Norm Chow who, in addition to having lots of NFL experience, had great success at USC under Pat Carroll where he was part of 2 national championship teams. Since Ben Olson and Pat Cowan are injured, Chow will be working with junior college transfer (and former San Diego St backup) QB Kevin Craft, who only threw for 4,231 yards and 44 TDs at Mt. San Antonio College last year. UCLA returns RB Kahlil Bell who ran for 795 yds and 5 TD's last year, with a healthy 5.6 YPC average. Overall there are just 6 returning starters on offense, but there is lots of talent and with Chow running the offense I would not expect scoring to be a problem. DeWayne Walker returns as DC for the third year. His rushing defense has been awesome the past couple years and last year finished ranked 14th in the nation. His stop unit overall finished an excellent 29th in the nation. Kicking and punting should be a strong suit as PK Kai Forbath returns (25-30 FG, 30-30 PAT and 5 for 5 FG over 50 yds), as well as punter Aaron Perez who ranked 2nd in the conference and 29th in the nation in avg distance (42.3 yds). UCLA finished 6-6 last year with a 4-2 home record. They finished off the year with a hard-fought 17-16 loss to BYU in their bowl game.
Tennessee comes in ranked 18th to start the year, returning 8 starters on offense and 6 on defense. They lose starting QB Eric Ainge, but RB Arian Foster (1193 yds, 12 TD's) returns in the backfield as well as their top two receivers from last year. They will be breaking in a new QB in Jonathan Crompton, as well as a new OC in Dave Clawson, who comes over from Div 1-AA Richmond. The Vols were 7-0 at home last year, but just 2-3 on the road, including a 45-31 loss at Cal to open the season. They finished the regular season at 9-3, and then lost to LSU in the SEC Championship before edging Wisconsin in their bowl appearance. One of their 2 road wins though was a tough 52-50 , 4OT win at Kentucky. The Tennessee defense was nothing to write home about as they finished ranked near the bottom of their conference and 70th overall in the nation, with pretty equal rankings in both rushing and passing 'D'. I would imagine both teams kicking/special teams to be fairly close, with no huge advantage either way.
By my way of thinking, Tennessee always seems to be a little over-rated, like many SEC teams, to begin the season. I think expecting them to travel all the way across the country and beat a well-coached, defensive team like UCLA in their own backyard, and by more than a TD, is a little much. UCLA should be better than they were a year ago, even with Craft at QB.
Rutgers -3 vs Fresno St - Fresno St returns 17 starters...10 on offense...which always seems to impress some people. Seems to me a lot was made out of all of Miami-OH's returning starters in their first game vs Vanderbilt. The line was bet up from 1 to around 4, I think, and they actually ended up losing big. In this one, Rutgers opened at around -5 and it has now been bet down to just 3. Fresno St.'s defense was ranked a very mediocre 73rd in the nation last year (85th in rushing/56th in passing) and were just 71st in passing offense. They did beat a mediocre Kansas St team, and they did beat Georgia Tech in their bowl game, but other than that they had a really easy schedule and lost most of the big games (Texas A&M, Oregon, Boise St, Hawaii).
Rutgers will have to replace 3 starters on the OL, as well as RB Ray Rice, but they do also return 17 starters (8 on 'O'/9 on 'D'). They ranked 17th in the nation in total 'D' last year (60th vs the rush/5th vs the pass) and 18th in total offense. They've supposedly got some dinged up linemen who have been held out of some recent practices, but I wouldn't put it past Coach Schiano to exaggerate things a bit when he says "Someone will play. We're not going to play with 10. It just won't be at the level guys were at, not any more (if reserves are needed on the offensive line)."
The line is now Rutgers -3, which I think is very reasonable. I like Rutgers in this one.
Comment