Cal vs. UCLA fearless prediction and game preview.
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Cal vs. UCLA fearless prediction and game preview.
Cal vs. UCLA Broadcast
Date: Saturday, November 30
Game Time: 10:30 ET
Live Stream: fuboTV (click to watch for free)
Venue: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Network: FS1
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Cal (6-5) vs. UCLA (4-7) Game Preview
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Why Cal Will Win
QB Chase Garbers went from likely out to getting the nod against Stanford last week, and he came through with a sharp 285-yard game in the bowl-eligibility clinching win.
If he can be be merely decent – and healthy – the defense will take care of the rest.
Cal struggled when Washington State and USC started bombing away – both Anthony Gordon and Kedon Slovis, respectively, went for over 400 yards – and Stanford’s Davis Mills was able to throw for close to 300, too. But there wasn’t a lick of a rushing attack in any of those three games.
The Bears have allowed 133 rushing yards over the last three weeks, and only allowed more than 200 yards so far in the loss to Utah. It’s this simple against UCLA – stop the ground game, and that’s it.
The Bruins needed an all-timer of a comeback to beat Washington State. They ran for 200 yards or more in the other three games, and only managed to lose when they hit the mark in the shootout against Oregon State.
They’re not going to run for 200 on this Bear D.
On the other side, UCLA’s secondary has been pointed on all season long. Garbers doesn’t have to throw for 515 yards like Slovis did last week, but he needs to keep the chains moving.
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Why UCLA Will Win
There’s not enough offensive pop from Cal to keep up if the Bruins get off to a good start.
There were problems for the UCLA offense against Utah, but that’s Utah. It’s been able to score 31 points or more in the other five games over the second half of the season.
Cal has scored more than 28 points just once.
Joshua Kelley and the running game might be the key to any UCLA success, but Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the passing attack have been on over the second half of the year, too.
The sophomore has started to look the part of a franchise playmaker with two touchdown passes or more in four of the last five games, even if he hasn’t been consistent enough.
Against Cal, just score. It’s 6-1 when allowing 20 points or fewer – Oregon being the one loss – and 0-4 when allowing more than 20.
UCLA might have its issues on both sides of the ball at times, but it’s scoring.
What’s Going To Happen
UCLA was starting to find a bit of a groove in the Rose Bowl before going away from home over the last two weeks, and now it’ll do just enough in its house to close the season out with something positive.
Cal doesn’t have the ability to get into any sort of a shootout, and UCLA won’t put up massive numbers, but it’ll be a four win in the last six games for Chip Kelly.
Cal’s big game was last week – beating Stanford and getting bowl eligible. It’ll play hard, but this is UCLA’s final game. The Bruins will play like it.
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Cal vs. UCLA Prediction, Line
UCLA 31, Cal 17
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UCLA -1.5, o/u: 51
Live Stream: fuboTV (click to watch for free)
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
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Must See Rating: 2.5
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