[PrinceLightfoot]

They both have a bye week coming up since the game is on Thursday. That should give both QBs time to heal by game time if the injuries are not too serious. Both teams are ok but not nearly as good as their ranking suggests.

My opinion of UCLA hasn't changed - three or four loss team. The UCLA offense is poor primarily because their OL is weak. They score just enough to win against average defenses and rely heavily on a good defense. Some might say that the Nunes led Stanford team was the same barely scoring enough to win against average defenses, but our weakness back then was clearly the QB and not the OL. I do not believe they have the OL coaching necessary to fix their issues.

ASU has a defense that hasn't been tested (played Weber St., New Mexico, and Colorado) giving up 45 non-gargabe time points in those matches. My gut tells me they are below average on defense. Their offense seems to be humming, but it is tough to gauge how they would perform versus a strong defense. The backup QB, Bercovici, struggled (2/4 8 yrds, 4 rushes for -3 yrds) after Kelly was injured. Unless Kelly is ready to go or Bercovici improves over the next week and a half, ASU will struggle to move the ball against UCLA's defense.

Giving the edge to UCLA in a close game because they have the better defense.

[PrinceLightfoot]

They both have a bye week coming up since the game is on Thursday. That should give both QBs time to heal by game time if the injuries are not too serious. Both teams are ok but not nearly as good as their ranking suggests.

My opinion of UCLA hasn't changed - three or four loss team. The UCLA offense is poor primarily because their OL is weak. They score just enough to win against average defenses and rely heavily on a good defense. Some might say that the Nunes led Stanford team was the same barely scoring enough to win against average defenses, but our weakness back then was clearly the QB and not the OL. I do not believe they have the OL coaching necessary to fix their issues.

ASU has a defense that hasn't been tested (played Weber St., New Mexico, and Colorado) giving up 45 non-gargabe time points in those matches. My gut tells me they are below average on defense. Their offense seems to be humming, but it is tough to gauge how they would perform versus a strong defense. The backup QB, Bercovici, struggled (2/4 8 yrds, 4 rushes for -3 yrds) after Kelly was injured. Unless Kelly is ready to go or Bercovici improves over the next week and a half, ASU will struggle to move the ball against UCLA's defense.

Giving the edge to UCLA in a close game because they have the better defense.