No. 8 UCLA football (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) will travel both east and north to face Minnesota (5-3, 3-2) on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium. The Bruins most recently captured a shutout victory over the Nevada Wolf Pack at home on Halloween, helping them enter the College Football Playoff rankings, where they are projected to host the first round of the postseason. Here are the game predictions from Sports editor Jacob Nguyen, assistant Sports editor Willa Campion and Sports reporter Zach King.

Jacob Nguyen
Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 20, Minnesota 10

Get a blanket out and maybe even some popcorn.

Not just because the Bruins are going north to Minneapolis.

But because UCLA looks to take on Minnesota in a slow, grind-it-out match of trench warfare where yardage could be hard to come by against two hard-nosed front sevens that stuff the line of scrimmage in a game that might be longer than the runtime of “You Can See Everything.”

Sure, it’s a 9 a.m. body clock game, but it’s not like the Bruins are unfamiliar with tough road environments. They came into College Park – a whole three hours ahead – and gave Maryland its worst loss of the year. They then flew up to Eugene and upset then-No. 13 Oregon in a rowdy Autzen Stadium.

There’s zero chance coach Bob Chesney lets geography of all things be the end to his current win streak.

And while the Golden Gophers’ defense is heavy up front – able to deploy a deep room of linebackers, linemen and edge rushers – the Bruins have still found ways to win amid slow starts. The Big Ten’s best rushing offense will be challenged by a Minnesota squad that allows 126.1 rushing yards per game.

Alas, two-thirds through the regular season, the Bruins’ Cerberus room has yet to give me any reason to lose faith. No matter the foe, one head will always bark, and one head will always bite. The Golden Gophers just need to hope it isn’t multiple.

So, with Minnesota’s offense looking just as slow as its defense might make UCLA’s look – quarterback Drake Lindsey has thrown for 200 yards in just one of his last four games after doing so through his first four – perhaps Minnesota’s best bet at points is with its kicker.

Nonetheless, get comfortable and enjoy the Bruins trying to become 9-0 for the first time since 1998, because I could bet my friend’s AMC Stubs A-List membership that they do.

Willa Campion
Assistant Sports editor
Prediction: UCLA 14, Minnesota 17

Every Saturday in the fall, for as long as I can remember, I have watched college football.

And for as long as I can remember, there have been underlying rules – Alabama wins, the SEC dominates the top 10 and teams like Houston and Kentucky generally stick to their identities as basketball schools.

Oh, and the happiest a Gopher football fan will ever be is when coach P.J. Fleck leads the team to a bowl game appearance.

Minnesota taking the reigning national champion to overtime certainly doesn’t abide by those rules. Minnesota taking any No. 4 team to overtime is not a possibility that enters the mind of a Gopher fan.

So when I tuned into Minnesota’s game versus Indiana last Saturday, I was shocked to see that the game was in overtime, and I smiled at the mental picture I had in my mind of how mad Hoosier coach Curt Cignetti was. Amid the chaos of college football this year – quarterbacks dropping like flies, Texas taking out top-ranked opponents to promptly lose to an irrelevant team, UCLA going undefeated – Minnesota’s success was a welcome new development, even if confusing considering their prior trip to the state ended with a 41-13 blowout loss to Purdue.

With that being said, I should know better than to think that the Gophers can defeat their first top 10 team since 2020, especially given my years of experience being a disappointed Minnesota fan. In this case, though, my skepticism that UCLA has earned its high ranking despite its complete lack of any sort of strength of schedule wins out.

The game will probably come down to a battle between the kickers – in which the Gophers hold an edge with Luke Drzewiecki – after the typical Big Ten battle on the ground ends in a deadlock. And my money is on Minnesota to pull out the upset it couldn’t quite eke out a week ago.

Zach King
Sports reporter
Prediction: UCLA 31, Minnesota 10

“Will” is a strong word in any sports context. Saying something “will” happen is a declaration of near insanity – a certainty to place on a statement otherwise unpredictable, and an invitation to use yet another strong and even scarier word: “jinx.”

This is why I love watching Sam Darnold. No matter the game or stakes, the NFL quarterback seems to throw an interception. He could be having the game of his life or the game of his nightmares – it doesn’t matter. Sam Darnold will always find the way to give the opposing defense at least one reason to celebrate in his own end zone every game.

With a team like the Bruins, they not only need to be excellent to beat a dangerous Minnesota squad, which is 4-1 at home, but it must be done so with a strong will and an even stronger spirit. And in that regard, there is no team I feel more comfortable backing than Chesney and Co.

UCLA will be more physical than Minnesota. The Bruins have been bullying opponents all season on both ends of the trenches, averaging 219.5 rushing yards per game while allowing opponents only 87.3 themselves. Specifically on the defensive line, fifth-year Aiden Gobaira and junior Sahir West have consistently terrorized opposing backfields, and against a Minnesota offense that ranks among the nation’s worst in rushing production, there is no reason not to expect more of the same.

Wayne Knight will find pay dirt on the other end. Eight games, eight trips to the end zone – and I’m not about to bet against a ninth. With 14 total touchdowns on the year, the fifth-year running back has been the beating heart of UCLA’s three-headed rushing monster. Even against a stout Golden Gopher defensive front, I trust him to find six points either on the ground or in the air.

The defense will force a turnover. While I love the idea of a tough, gritty, low-scoring Big Ten battle, there’s no sugarcoating that Minnesota’s offense has just sucked lately, and Lindsey’s combined QBR of 42.6 doesn’t exactly inspire confidence against the nation’s most opportunistic defense. With 26 takeaways already to their name, the Bruins have practically made stealing possessions a weekly tradition, and I don’t expect the Gophers to be the ones to break it.

The Bruins will win the game. Minnesota is physically dangerous at home and more than capable of making Saturday morning uncomfortable in a year full of insane upsets. However, UCLA has spent eight consecutive weeks proving it can win in just about every fashion imaginable. Maybe it’s the defense, maybe it’s Knight or maybe it’s a little bit of that Chesney magic, but by the power of Sam Darnold’s pick-throwing ability, I’m willing to stand by this one. UCLA takes the win.