Gameday predictions: UCLA vs. Oregon

Ryan Smith
Assistant Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 38, Oregon 35

UCLA football’s defensive effort against Arizona left a bad taste in the mouth that was all too familiar.

The Wildcats took down the Bruins 47-30 after rushing for 463 yards, 234 of which came from quarterback Khalil Tate. Arizona finished the game with 605 yards, a season-high in yards allowed by UCLA.

Rewind to Parents’ Weekend last season.

In a game against Utah at the Rose Bowl, former Utes’ running back Joe Williams returned from a leave of absence to shred the Bruins for 332 yards and four touchdowns.

Despite a five-touchdown effort by quarterback Mike Fafaul, Utah won the shootout 52-45.

This week’s matchup with the Ducks also happens to fall on Bruin Family Weekend and unfortunately for the Bruins, they face another dynamic running back in Royce Freeman. He’s averaging 113 yards per game this season and UCLA owns the second-worst rush defense in the country.

With all of that in mind, I fully expect to see the Bruins get torched in the ground game once again.

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

UCLA is 3-0 at home this season, and with the help of Josh Rosen and the offense, the Bruins should be able to overcome the defensive struggles that are bound to take place.

Vikram Sairam
Daily Bruin reporter
Prediction: UCLA 35, Oregon 42

We’re halfway into the Pac-12 season, folks, and honestly, what’s changed?

Washington State looked to be the Pac-12 front-runner after beating then-undefeated USC, but then got demolished by an OK Cal team. And oh yeah, that Cal team also lost three straight conference games before beating the Cougars 37-3.

So where does that leave UCLA and Oregon in regards to this Saturday’s matchup? Honestly, I truly believe that each of this weekend’s Pac-12 game­s – with the exception of Stanford versus Oregon State – is set up to be an offensive throttle that could go either way.

The Bruins are 6.5-point favorites, and both UCLA and Oregon teams are coming off embarrassing conference performances.

Oregon got bludgeoned 49-7 against Stanford last week and UCLA was the team to allow a quarterback­ – Khalil Tate – to rush for over 200 yards in a second straight game in a 47-30 loss in Tucson, Arizona. The reason the Ducks get the nod for me is because their defense has played slightly better than the Bruins so far.

Oregon has a lot of athleticism to work with and several play makers who could make the difference. I think Troy Dye and Thomas Graham Jr. are going to have big games and try to steal the Bruins’ homecoming, as both guys hail from Southern California.

That being said, watch out for the crowd tomorrow – the last time UCLA played these guys, it seemed as if has the Rose Bowl was green. The Bruins ended up losing that game 42-30, under Brett Hundley in 2014. Oregon has a lot of players from Southern California every year, and this season is no different.

Its true freshman quarterback Braxton Burmeister is a San Diego native who’s had a really rough start, after being forced to burn his redshirt because of injuries to the first- and second- string quarterbacks, but he’s also a dual threat who hasn’t been able to showcase his running ability with such an impromptu start.

So I expect Oregon coach Willie Taggart to help the him out and draw up some designed reads against a defense that has given up way too many yards to seemingly everyone. He’s not really an out-of-this-world athlete, but I have an eerie feeling about a team that has beaten UCLA six times in a row.

I think Josh Rosen will bounce back and have a great game, but the key to this matchup is Royce Freeman. He’s the real deal, and I’m expecting more than 120 yards rushing for the nation’s ninth-leading rusher.

Stanford running back Bryce Love, A&M’s Trayveon Williams, Hawai’i’s Diocemy Saint Juste ­­– each one of them ran all over UCLA. So with that, I’m picking the Ducks in a shootout.

Linda Xu
Assistant Arts and Entertainment editor
Prediction: UCLA 21, Oregon 6

As the reigning lifestyle editor of the Daily Bruin, I am going to attempt a prediction of the upcoming UCLA vs. Oregon football game based solely on my scientifically sound schema of wardrobe analysis.

Upon glancing through the various photographs of the Oregon Ducks in their jerseys, my first question was whether they were sponsored by some inferior Sprite alternative like Mountain Dew or Mello Yello.

Although admittedly I have no technical knowledge of college football jerseys – much less college football – I was informed that Oregon has changed its colors every game in the past seven years. This leads me to wonder what upsetting combination of chartreuse and light-chartreuse the team will display this coming Saturday.

While trying to make a serious prediction, I could only visualize the Bruins fending off against a charge of lime-flavored Skittles. So my prediction, corroborated strictly by my opinion of Oregon’s sartorial choices, is a decisive UCLA victory.