Week 11 of the college football season gets underway on Friday night as the Iowa Hawkeyes (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) prepare to square off against a Big Ten newcomer, the UCLA Bruins (3-5, 2-4 Big Ten), in beautiful, sunny Pasadena, California, at the Rose Bowl Stadium.
Iowa has found its groove the last two weeks with 40-point explosions on offense and defensive dominance. UCLA enters this game with newfound confidence after knocking off the Nebraska Cornhuskers last week.
With this game kicking off on Friday night to get the football weekend going early, College Football News’ Pete Fiutak dug into this Big Ten matchup and provided his thoughts on what is in store. Take a look at how he thinks this game may go along with a prediction.
CFN’s must-see rating: 3 (out of 5)
This has the intrigue and the draw for Iowa fans to tune into. The Hawkeyes have a changeup with a Friday night kickoff which has the schedules cleared for many. This game is also in one of the most beautiful settings in the world with the sun setting in the Rose Bowl.
As far as aesthetics, it won’t get much better than this, either. Iowa’s classic black and yellow against UCLA’s timeless light blue and gold will look sharp under the lights.
Now, for real football stuff, this game presents Iowa the opportunity to extend their winning streak to three and gives UCLA the chance to make a statement in their new conference.
Iowa wants to run the ball. It is no secret. UCLA happens to be stout against the run allowing only 100.4 yards per game. This matchup is going to be strength on strength and pit the Bruins’ run defense against Iowa’s run offense.
This is going to be a surprisingly physical battle and whoever controls this, controls the game.
UCLA is terrific against the run.
Iowa has enough of a passing game to come through once in a while, but it only threw ten passes in the win over Wisconsin and isn’t close to consistent. It’s all about the Hawkeye ground attack.
Iowa is 5-0 when running for 220 yards or more and 6-1 when coming up with 200 rushing yards or more.
No one has run for more than 153 yards on the UCLA defense.
The Bruin passing game has been great, the turnovers slowed, and …– Fiutak, CFN
The Hawkeyes have a real offense that can move the ball and score points in bunches. It is no aberration. It is real and it is beautiful.
Brendan Sullivan opens things up and helps Iowa stay a little more balanced with his mobility. If he can convert on crucial third downs to stay on the field, Iowa gets an advantage.
The Iowa offense really does work.
It hit the 40-point mark in three of the last four games and scored 38 or more in five games. When the offense gets to 31 points the team is 6-0, and it’s 0-3 when it doesn’t.
It starts with keeping the chains moving. UCLA is the worst team in the country at coming up with third down stops, and Iowa is strong on third downs converting 45% of its chase and keeping offenses to 32%.
The Hawkeye run defense is still great, UCLA is dead last in the nation in rushing, and …– Fiutak, CFN
Iowa has been a different team on the road. Their last two showings were dominant wins at home but those came after a very lackluster showing against Michigan State on the road.
Iowa is 1-2 on the road this year. This presents Kirk Ferentz and his squad the chance to show they can take their band on the road and have success, despite what has happened earlier this season.
Prediction: Iowa 27, UCLA 17
What Fiutak said:
Iowa’s running game won’t rumble like it needs to, but it’ll do enough to move the chains to control the game and clock to pull this off. It’s been a feast-or-famine thing for the Hawkeyes, but the blowout wins lately have come in Iowa City.
The Hawkeyes lost at Michigan State, lost big at Ohio State – no shame there – and rumbled all over Minnesota, but it’ll struggle a bit to put this away in Pasadena with the passing attack struggling. – Fiutak, CFN
This game comes down to two areas. First, if Iowa can stop UCLA’s run game, which they should be able to as the Bruins are dead last in America at running the ball, the secondary is going to have to hold up. Iowa needs a big game from Jermari Harris, Quinn Schulte, Xavier Nwankpa, and Deshaun Lee.
A big game from that group could lead to turnovers which leads into the second area. Iowa needs to win the field position game and make UCLA play their style of football. If they can do that, the Hawkeyes have the horses to outlast UCLA and take down the Bruins in the Rose Bowl.
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