ESPN's SP+ predicts the score of No. 15 Washington's game against UCLA
Bill Connelly’s SP+ is calling for an upset in the Rose Bowl on Friday night.
Washington hits the road for the first time this season to battle the 4-0 UCLA Bruins. The Huskies are 4-0 themselves and ranked 15th in the country. UW has already been tested, with a Week 3 contest at Husky Stadium against then-No. 11 Michigan State going the way of the Huskies — emphatically.
UCLA, on the other side, is getting its first real chance to validate the start. And Connelly’s predictive model thinks it can.
SP+ is calling for a 29-26 Bruin victory.
Washington is a 2.5-point road favorite in the game as kickoff approaches. It is 4-0 against the spread this season while UCLA is just 2-2. The over has hit in every UW game and three of UCLA’s four games so far.
“We know we got a great football team that we’re going to be facing here this weekend,” said UW coach Kalen DeBoer. “DTR is definitely a guy that causes problems. Fortunately, we’ve had a couple games where we’ve had some experience against some quarterbacks that are mobile, that can move around, and we’ve got to learn from that and adjust and go make plays.”
Said UCLA coach Chip Kelly: “Obviously, their quarterback has thrown for more yards than anybody in the country, they’ve got three outstanding receivers. It’s a really good scheme. Kalen’s done a nice job everywhere he’s been with that scheme. I think from a defensive perspective, our ability to disrupt their passing game and keep them off track (will be important), so that’s going to be the challenge.”
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN Friday night. We’ll see if the Bruins can pull it off. Doing so would give UCLA the biggest win of the Kelly era. It would be the highest-ranked team UCLA has beaten since Kelly took over; he’s 3-8 in games against opponents ranked in the AP Top 25.