Gameday predictions: UCLA vs. Penn State
Freshman wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer (left) and redshirt senior defensive back Bryan Addison (right) are pictured. (Photos by Aidan Sun/Assistant Photo editor. Design by Lindsey Murto/Design director)
By Ira Gorawara, Sabrina Messiha, Matthew Niiya, Anna Dai-Liu, and Nicolas Greamo
Oct. 4, 2024 10:21 p.m.
UCLA football (1-3, 0-2 Big Ten) is headed to Beaver Stadium – the second-largest college football stadium in the country – to face No. 7 Penn State (4-0, 1-0) in its second straight top-10 matchup. Here are this week’s game day predictions from Sports editor Ira Gorawara, assistant Sports editors Sabrina Messiha and contributor Matthew Niiya – along with guest predictions from staff writers Nicolas Greamo and Anna Dai-Liu.
Ira Gorawara
Sports editor
Prediction: Penn State 38, UCLA 10
I’m starting to feel like a broken record.
This is the third straight losing prediction I’m writing, and for the third straight time, I’ll be right.
UCLA football will implode on all cylinders, coach DeShaun Foster’s post will be under heavy scrutiny, the team’s offensive line and running game will be a no-show, blah, blah, blah.
The buzz hasn’t let up since an outright shocking loss to Indiana on Sept. 14. It’s been nearly a month of nothing but bad things to say about a nothing-but-bad team. So to be fair, I get it. I’m just bored of it.
The deserved criticism could easily reach Herculean heights should redshirt sophomore Justyn Martin start at quarterback due to questions surrounding redshirt senior Ethan Garbers’ availability.
Garbers has the fire to sling it. But it’s hard to flaunt that when his protection plays like it’s on the wrong team. Toss Martin in – with just five completions in two years – and it’ll be chaos all around the Bruin backfield.
I guess I’m being a bit harsh here. But I’m just calling it as I see it. UCLA is about to face the seventh-best team in the nation, and its fanbase doesn’t show mercy.
I’m writing this prediction on a 30-seat “Contour Airlines” flight to “Altoona” – quotation marks to denote godforsaken names. I’m surrounded by three diehard Penn State fans – one decked out head-to-toe in merch, of course.
No matter how obscure Penn State’s whereabouts might be, in contrast with how highbrow UCLA’s might seem, the Nittany Lion faithful is coach James Franklin’s unofficial fourth unit. And they’ll guarantee the Bruins remain hopeless through Saturday.
Not that the Bruins need help sealing that fate on their own.
Sabrina Messiha
Assistant Sports editor
Prediction: Penn State 38, UCLA 17
Despite not growing up in a college football household, Penn State football has always been on my radar.
Its iconic White Out games, its fight song “Fight On, State” and its highly recognizable logo are all ingrained into my strictly West Coast-raised mind.
And for the first time in over 50 years, the Big Ten’s third-best team will welcome my hometown Bruins to the iconic Beaver Stadium.
Though it’s disappointing to say, my faith in UCLA football has rapidly declined following its opening four games of the season.
Foster’s only success thus far has been against Hawai’i. But that too, barely – if it weren’t for sophomore kicker Mateen Bhaghani’s three field goals, UCLA wouldn’t have escaped with a 16-13 win.
But after three subsequent losses, the Bruins have sunk as far down as they could in Big Ten rankings – in other words, last.
The Nittany Lions, on the other hand, are undefeated, and ranked as the nation’s seventh-best team.
While the Bruin spirit still gives me a glimmer of hope, being realistic, it’ll take an offensive and defensive miracle for the Bruins to upset the Lions.
The preseason confidence that Foster had in Garbers’s communication improvement must pull through, and the sentiment shared by defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe’s passion to turn the season around must be spread throughout the team.
A win is not impossible, but sadly, it may be unlikely.
Matthew Niiya
Daily Bruin contributor
Prediction: Penn State 34, UCLA 6
For the few years I’ve closely followed college football, Penn State has been a pretty predictable team.
It can suffocate lesser opponents, but just can’t quite get over the hump against the top-tier teams. The lack of an explosive air attack correlates to an inability to come back.
Fortunately for the Nittany Lions though, the Bruins won’t put them in a position where they need to panic.
Penn State coach James Franklin will be happy to run the ball down the throats of the Bruins with his featured backfield duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
Offensively, UCLA has little to offer against a stingy Penn State defense conceding just 11.5 points per game. Through four contests, the Bruin offense has found the end zone just four times.
The Nittany Lions’ physicality on the offensive and defensive lines are all but sure to overmatch the Bruins.
Signal-calling duties may fall to Martin if Garbers is unable to suit up due to injury. None of that sounds too promising for the Bruins – Martin has completed just two passes in his career and a start Saturday would mark his first in college.
No matter who is running the show, the result will likely be the same – the Bruins get trounced by the Nittany Lions.
Nicolas Greamo
Opinion editor
Prediction: Penn State 44, UCLA 18
The football gods are laughing.
At first, they snickered quietly in the dark. But now you can hear their chortling in almost every game.
The Rainbow Warriors’ fake punt to save their touchdown drive.
The gods, of course, do not limit themselves to taunting one team. With Oregon up 28-3, providence placed Heisman candidate quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s third touchdown throw into the path of redshirt senior defensive back and former Duck Bryan Addison, who took the ball back 96 yards.
You can even see their influence in the box scores. Away, UCLA scored one more point against LSU than over Hawaiʻi. But at home – in front of the people who care the most – the Bruins have mustered 13 on two occasions, both in decisive blowouts.
This UCLA team is woeful. Through five weeks, the Bruins have held a lead for only 136 seconds, less time than it takes me to warm a microwave pizza.
And now it’ll face a conference superpower in perhaps the most hostile environment in college football.
Is this season penance for the near-death of the Pac-12? Can the Bruins find their salvation in the place where even the Buckeyes and Wolverines often fear to tread?
Only the gods know.
But it’s safe to say they’ll be having a riot with this one too.
Anna Dai-Liu
Slot editor
Prediction: Penn State 42, UCLA 10
Since I’m a scientist, let’s start with the basics: a good old-fashioned conic section.
Conic sections come in a few types. Consider a parabola: That’s the kind of arc you see in projectile motion – like when a kick from Bhaghani sent the ball sailing for a 54-yard field goal against Oregon.
But the Bruins’ season so far hasn’t been about 2D conic sections. Instead, it’s been one of 3D prolate spheroids, the fancy word for “football-shaped” – a shape with a fairly erratic aerodynamicity.
UCLA football has gotten off to a similarly turbulent start in the Big Ten. With a 9 a.m. PDT start time Saturday and a more-than-2,000-mile flight to Beaver Stadium, the combination of jet lag and a lengthy flight doesn’t bode well for the Bruins.
The Nittany Lions, however, will enter with a perfect record that includes a total wipeout of Kent State, whose last-place total offense falls just six places behind UCLA’s.
Statistics says that for a totally random event, the wins and losses will eventually average out to be 50-50. I figure that with an average score in the teens all season, a hopefully-recovered Garbers and company can scrape together at least 10 points against a top-10 competitor.
But that kind of theory doesn’t account for the nonrandom events. For that, we’ve got psychology.
And if psychology taught me anything, it’s this: Sometimes, the losers keep on losing – and the winners, like Penn State, just keep on winning.