The UCLA Bruins are really the whole focus of this game against the Virginia Cavaliers. If UCLA plays well, it will win big. If UCLA plays poorly, it could lose this one.
UCLA Bruins @ Virginia Cavaliers
Saturday, August 30th – 12:05 PM ET
Odds: UCLA -21
Why The Bruins Can Cover The Spread
They are by far the better team. UCLA has the talent needed to win the Pac-12 championship, and few people would doubt that assertion. The Bruins have a lot of starters back from a team that was not quite good enough to win the league in 2013. The main piece is quarterback Brett Hundley, but UCLA also has Myles Jack, a freak athlete, back at linebacker. The Bruins have strength along both of their offensive and defensive lines. They might not have a full complement of skill people surrounding Hundley, but they should be good enough to beat most teams by big margins, and Virginia is one of them. As long as UCLA doesn’t make foolish mistakes on either offense or defense, things that give Virginia turnovers or short fields or both, the Bruins should be able to control the tempo of the game and put the Cavaliers’ offense in a straitjacket.
Virginia has been by far the worst team in the ACC Coastal Division over the past several years, especially with Duke rising up and winning the division last year. Coach Mike London has whiffed again and again in his attempt to revive the program since he took over in Charlottesville. Virginia is very low on skill-player speed and flair, and without something exciting to stir things up, there’s just not a particular strength on this team that can lift it to the level of an opponent such as UCLA. Even at home, the Cavaliers will be hard-pressed to find a true avenue through which they can really hurt the Bruins and continuously enjoy success.
Why The Cavaliers Can Cover The Spread
They could benefit from something that happens to NFL teams in addition to college teams. What’s something you see so often in the cases of Western teams that travel all the way to the Eastern edge of the United States for an early-afternoon game? Those teams from the West do not play very well. Specifically, they look rusty and lifeless in the first half of a game. They fall way behind and never get into a rhythm. Many NFL teams from the West take a long time to get acclimated to the difference in time zones, and by the time they start to play well, it’s too late. This could ambush UCLA against Virginia, and it should be said that a year ago, Virginia upset BYU, a much better team, in a home opener as well. Why couldn’t Virginia upset UCLA a year later? Stranger things have happened.
Outlook
If Virginia wins in an upset in its home opener two years running, the level of surprise felt around the country will be off the charts. UCLA should restore order in this game and pound the Cavaliers in a thorough manner.
Picks: UCLA -21
