Starco Brands LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk: Game Preview, How To Watch, Odds, Prediction

Boise State will look to continue their hot streak with a victory over UCLA. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.

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Will the Broncos leave the City of Angels with their second straight bowl win?

STARCO BRANDS LA BOWL Hosted by Gronk: UCLA Bruins (7-5, 4-5 PAC-12) vs. Boise State Broncos (8-5, 6-2 Mountain West)

WHEN: Saturday, December 16 — 4:30 PM PT/5:30 PM MT

WHERE: SoFi Stadium; Inglewood, CA

WEATHER: Partly cloudy, high of 77 degrees

TV: ABC

STREAMING: Fans can sign up to receive a free one-week trial of Fubo, which includes ESPN, by following this link.

RADIO: The UCLA broadcast can be found on the UCLA Sports Network or in the local LA area on 570 AM (LA Sports). The Boise State broadcast can be found in the Treasure Valley on the Bronco Radio Network on 670 AM (KBOI) or 93.1 FM (KBOI).

SERIES RECORD: UCLA leads the all-time series 1-0. In the last and only meeting in 1999, UCLA won 38-7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

LAST GAME: UCLA lost to Cal 33-7, while Boise State beat UNLV 44-20 in the MWC Championship game.

WEBSITES: UCLABruins.com, the official UCLA athletics website.

BroncoSports.com, the official Boise State athletics website

GAME NOTES (PDF): UCLA | Boise State

ODDS: UCLA -2.5

SP+ PROJECTION: UCLA by 0.5

FEI PROJECTION: UCLA by 1.0

PARKER FLEMING PROJECTION: UCLA 80.46% win probability (31.93-20.55)

The second Mountain West game of the opening weekend of bowl games pairs the UCLA Bruins against the Boise State Broncos in Los Angeles Saturday evening.

The Broncos have the opportunity to end the Bruins era in the PAC-12 with a loss and accomplish their final remaining season goal of winning a bowl game. This won’t be an easy task as UCLA is a talented team playing a virtual home game as SoFi Stadium is actually closer to campus than Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena.

Here’s how newly promoted head coach Spencer Danielson and the Broncos can get it done on Saturday.

THREE KEYS TO A BOISE STATE VICTORY

Get ahead of the chains with an effective run game.

Boise State got great news recently with star RB Ashton Jeanty announcing he will return to The Blue for another year on December 5th. Jeanty and fellow RB George Holani have teamed up to form one of the most effective backfield tandems in the FBS combining for nearly 2,600 yards from scrimmage and 24 touchdowns. In the MWC Championship game, the Broncos ran the ball 51 times for 301 yards, good for 5.9 yards per carry, and 3 touchdowns. The offensive line and offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan also had one of their best outings of the year.

Two major challenges stand in the way of the Broncos accomplishing this key. The first being the departure of dual threat QB Taylen Green who recently entered the transfer portal and announced his commitment to Arkansas. The second being the fact that they are facing the 3rd ranked rushing defense in the FBS, albeit it not quite as complete personnel-wise as it was throughout the regular season.

Reduce the pressure on CJ Tiller

Head Coach Spencer Danielson announced true freshman QB CJ Tiller will get the start under center with the departure of Taylen Green. Tiller has played just two snaps thus far in his college career and has zero pass attempts. Bush Hamdan’s gameplan will be paramount in allowing CJ to get comfortable in his elevated role.

The Broncos’ stout run game outlined above will be key to getting Tiller off to a good start. Expect the talented freshman to utilize play action to slow down the pass rush from the Bruins and allow him time to process his reads and hit targets downfield. The recent announcement by UCLA star LB Laiatu Latu that he will forgo the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft should certainly help the true freshman feel more secure in the pocket on Saturday.

Contain UCLA’s athleticism

It may be a tiresome narrative, but the Bruins have excellent athleticism as you would expect from a P5 program, despite their 7-5 record. Both contests against P5 competition this season showed that even with their high-level Mountain West recruiting, there is still a gap between the Broncos and P5 talent at some positions. Some of the issues likely arose from young players on the defense learning on the job and thus not feeling confident enough to play fast and free. It can also be reasoned that their contest against the University of Washington could be thrown out, as they have shown themselves to be above the rest of the FBS in ability, as they are slated to take on Texas in the College Football Playoff Semifinal.

Boise State defensive backs have been especially susceptible to athletic wide receivers running vertical routes. While the safeties and corners have shown marked improvement over the course of the season, they still seem to have a play or two per game where they allow a receiver behind them. While the Bruins don’t have the most prolific passing attack, they will undoubtedly take shots deep to test this secondary.

Prediction

While the Broncos have seemingly made countless trips to Vegas for the Last Vegas Bowl, the previous bowl destination for the MWC Champion, this is their first trip to the new the LA Bowl. Look for head coach Spencer Danielson to once again inspire the team to play for their seniors and do just enough to leave LA with a victory, behind a solid ground game and a sound defensive effort complete with a couple turnovers.

UCLA 24, Boise State 30

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