Sam Settleman
Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 35, Pitt 21

Most bowl games are meaningless – simply bragging rights on the line in a game against an unfamiliar opponent with key players opting out.

But for redshirt senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, this bowl game means something.

Thompson-Robinson could’ve easily chosen to sit this one out like many of his other peers headed for the 2023 NFL Draft. But after five years headlining as UCLA’s quarterback, he finally has his chance at a bowl game – and you better believe that means something.

For the final time in his career, Thompson-Robinson will suit up in the blue and gold. When it’s all said and done, he’ll sit near the top of almost every quarterback record in Westwood. One achievement has remained elusive, however.

Even when UCLA snapped its streak of losing seasons last year, Thompson-Robinson’s shot at a bowl game got ripped away at the last minute. Friday gives him the chance to earn the program’s first bowl victory and 10-win season since 2014, further cementing his legacy with the blue and gold.

When the lights are brightest, Thompson-Robinson turns it up a gear. It might not be a rivalry game, but a win over Pitt would instantly become one of the top victories in his career. And if nothing else, it’s an opportunity for Thompson-Robinson to show out one last time before NFL Draft preparations begin.

In a bowl game with no implications, having the drive to win means something. Thompson-Robinson and UCLA’s desire to win this game and put the final touches on a 10-win season should prove more than enough to crown the Bruins as Sun Bowl champions.

Jon Christon
Daily Bruin senior staff
Prediction: UCLA 38, Pitt 17

“They’re g-r-reat!”

Tony the Tiger has often yelled this when referring to his beloved Frosted Flakes. Unfortunately for the Bruin faithful, however, the 2022 Sun Bowl sponsor won’t be quite as enthusiastic about the product on the field in El Paso, Texas, on Friday.

Why?

This bowl game is “b-a-a-a-d!”

For starters, Pitt is an underwhelming opponent for a surging UCLA program. There is minimal history between the two schools – the last matchup was in 1972 – and the game will take place nowhere near either campus.

Beyond that, storylines are few and far between entering the weekend.

While it may be the last game of Thompson-Robinson’s storied career, he won’t have a memorable opponent. Panther quarterback Kedon Slovis – who battled with Thompson-Robinson as USC’s quarterback in 2019 and 2020 – won’t play after transferring to BYU, meaning UCLA’s soon-to-be all-time leading passer will be pinned against a fifth-year quarterback who barely has more collegiate passing statistics than I do.

While the team led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring a year ago, that seems to be an anomaly given Pat Narduzzi’s track record as an old-school, defense-first head coach. It’ll only get worse without Slovis and leading rusher Israel Abanikanda.

Coach Chip Kelly, on the other hand, will likely have all of his tools at his disposal – with Thompson-Robinson and senior running back Zach Charbonnet both set to play – while the Panther defense will be undermanned due to more Pitt opt-outs and injuries.

So while UCLA’s offense will have juice, the game as a whole won’t. UCLA is the better team, with both programs at full strength, and the number of opt-outs for Pitt only adds to the Bruins’ advantage.

In short, it likely won’t be close, nor will it be particularly intriguing.

Tony the Tiger deserves better.

Francis Moon
Daily Bruin senior staff
Prediction: UCLA 52, Pitt 28

Fifteen years ago, Kelly was exactly where he is now, preparing his team for the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

Not everything was the same, of course. Kelly was in his first of two seasons as the offensive coordinator for Oregon, which was blanked a month prior by an unranked UCLA team as part of a late-season skid that forced the Ducks to settle for a lesser bowl game after an 8-1 start to the 2007 season.

Sound familiar?

If that game tells us anything, it’s that Kelly and his offense aren’t going to take their foot off the gas regardless of who’s on the field for a meaningless contest.

Oregon deployed Justin Roper at quarterback, a then-redshirt freshman starting for the first time after the team lost four signal-callers for the season to injuries. Roper filled in admirably, tying the program’s bowl game record with four touchdown passes while running back Jonathan Stewart went off for 282 of the team’s 533 total yards in a 56-21 win over South Florida.

I expect a similar outcome Friday – and luckily for Kelly, he won’t have to reach as deep into his bag this time with no significant opt-outs or injuries for the Bruins.

Pitt’s strength on defense is its ability to stop the run, which would normally set up an “unstoppable force meets an immovable object” scenario against UCLA’s rushing offense, which ranks fourth in the country.

Instead, the Panthers will be without five of their top defensive players because of injuries or opt-outs, opening the door for Charbonnet and Thompson-Robinson to run all over them.

Even if the blue and gold’s two stars don’t play as much as usual, though I expect Thompson-Robinson to play as much as he can as it’s his first career bowl game, UCLA’s second- and third-stringers have shown they are capable of filling in, especially against an inferior opponent.

A storied career deserves a happy ending, and the Bruins will pile on points to send off one of the greatest quarterbacks in program history and end the first chapter of Kelly’s tenure in Westwood.

Jack Nelson
Assistant Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 31, Pitt 24

I’ll start by addressing the elephant in the room – mainly because this is one unusually large elephant.

This is not the bowl game the Bruins should’ve ended up in. The blue and gold once stood at 8-1, holding the No. 9 spot in the AP poll and owning a pair of convincing ranked wins to back up the hype. In the two games that followed, UCLA had possession late with time remaining to clinch victories.

The Bruins were firmly in position to craft a season for the ages – to give their faithful the season they’ve only dreamt of. But what transpired was well short of legendary.

An incomplete pass was thrown to a wide-open redshirt senior wide receiver Jake Bobo in the endzone.

An interception that terminated UCLA’s drive just short of midfield.

Those two drives, ultimately defined by Thompson-Robinson’s mistakes, would eventually define the fate of this team.

Instead of an appearance in a New Year’s Six Bowl or having a once unfathomable shot at the College Football Playoff, the Bruins have been relegated to the Sun Bowl, penance for throwing away what could’ve been.

The intrigue of this matchup between UCLA and Pitt has plummeted in recent weeks as a result of transfer decisions, opt-outs and injury developments – the vast majority of which came on behalf of the Panthers.

Thompson-Robinson battling former USC quarterback Kedon Slovis? That changed when Slovis transferred to BYU.

The nation’s No. 3 total offense battling the country’s leaders in sacks? That changed when five faces of Pitt’s defense were ruled out with injury or opted out for the NFL Draft.

Assuming that the core trio of Thompson-Robinson, Charbonnet and Bobo will play, this should be a blowout by almost all accounts.

But if the Bruins’ final three contests of the regular season told me anything, that’s why it won’t be.

Thompson-Robinson will instead be trusted, once again, to lead UCLA to the promised land on the final drive of the game. And in his first and final bowl game – his farewell to Westwood – the fifth-year signal-caller will finally deliver, hoisting the Sun Bowl trophy to culminate a tumultuous yet memorable collegiate career.

The Bruins will also win because if they don’t, I’ll finish the season 0-3 on football predictions. And those stakes are much higher than anything else that’s on the line for UCLA in this one.