Pac 10 Rivalry Showdown – UCLA Bruins vs. #21 USC Trojans
Game-day: 11/28/2009
Kick-off: 10:00 pm EST
The UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans do their traditional dance this Saturday when the Bruins travel a full 15 to 20 minutes to the L.A. Coliseum to take on the Trojans.
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USC has had a seriously down year. The Trojans have lost 3 games in 2009. They were upset as 20 ½ point favorites 16 to 13 to the Washington Huskies, 47 to 20 as 3 point favorites to the Oregon Ducks and, in a huge shocker, 55 to 21 as 10 ½ point home favorites to the Stanford Cardinal.
The Bruins have lost 5 games this season. Strangely, those 5 losses were all in a row to Stanford, Oregon, Cal, Arizona and Oregon State. Before the losing streak, the Bruins had beaten two very good teams in Kansas State and Tennessee.
The Bruins have won three games in a row since losing to the Oregon State Beavers and appear to be back on track. UCLA has a devastating defense when everybody is healthy. Their D could cause some serious issues for the Trojans who will start freshman Matt Barkley yet again.
Below are the NCAAF sports book college football odds for this game.
UCLA Bruins +13 -110
USC Trojans -13 -110
Here are a college football betting trends for this game.
The UCLA Bruins are 1 and 5 against the spread in their last 6 games on grass.
The USC Trojans are 0 and 4 against the spread in their last 4 conference games.
The UCLA Bruins are 5 and 1 against the spread in the last 6 meetings between these two teams.
Sometimes a rivalry is overhyped. For instance on Thursday the Alabama Crimson Tide takes on the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl. Auburn has absolutely no chance of winning that game.
The UCLA Bruins? They’ve actually got a big chance of upsetting USC in this game. The funny thing is that the sportsbook has Alabama as a 10 ½ point favorite and USC as a 13 point favorite.
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What makes the Bruins so tough in this game? Besides the trends that point to UCLA playing about as well as can be expected in this game, the Bruins have the better defense and USC has just been terrible lately on offense. The Trojans have scored 20, 14 and 20 points in their last three games.
If they score that type of number this Saturday, then forget it. The Bruins beat them against the spread. Also, and this is a big one, the Trojans are a horrible 2 and 8 against the spread this season.
Expect the Bruins to dial up a few blitzes to confuse Trojan freshman quarterback Matt Barkley. If Barkley makes even one mistake in this game, then the Bruins will have a shot to win it in the 4th quarter. That’s because USC just can’t put up points right now.
On offense, UCLA hasn’t been all that great in 2009 but putting up 24 against the Washington Huskies and 23 against the Arizona State Sun Devils, the Trojans scored 14 against ASU in their victory, might be a sign that the Bruins are starting to put it together.
UCLA has a lot at stake in this game. A victory would make them 7 and 5 on the season and no doubt would put them into a bowl game. Just for that, the Bruins figure to lay it all on the line this Saturday.
Getting 13 points in a game against a team that is only 2 and 8 against the spread on the season is a gift.
Free Pick: Take the points and the Bruins is my advice
