UCLA is a swing game for the season

[rbmw263]

I want this one. Badly.  Win here and I think we are looking comfortably at 9-3 or better. An L brings 7-5 into play big time.

[KelVarnsen]

I agree. Win this week and there’s momentum to finish the season off strong and win the division. 9-3 becomes extremely realistic. Lose this week and finishing 8-4 might be wishful thinking, let alone winning the division.

[Sweetness]

I feel like this game is huge. IF we can get through the next two games 1-1, we’ll still control our own destiny and have a bye week to get healthy and gear up for the final three game stretch. Win those three and we’ll clinch the south.

This game does scare the crap out of me though. Regardless of whether Rosen plays. Their backup really found a nice rhythm in the 2nd half against Washington state. He looked very good. I think UCLA will be desperate, a little embarrassed, and is going to come out swinging. I just hope we can find a way to grit out a win, maybe get a big play on special teams and a couple big turnovers and keep ourselves in contention while a few guys get healthy.

[Anonymous]

Been posting that this is the pivotal game. Win this and we just need to 2-2 of the remaining games to win the South. First things first, beat UCLA.

[Utah]

If we can go 1-1, I think we win out after that. ASU and Oregon are NOT good teams. We’d have extra time to get ready for ASU and Oregon. Then, it would come down to Colorado and I think Colorado is over-rated. 

Don’t get me wrong, this Colorado team is a lot better than previous years, but I think they lose to Stanford, UCLA, WSU and us. They end the year 6-6. 

Plus, I think we would play better vs a 6 win PAC-12 team than a 3 win PAC-12 team. 

[Anonymous]

If Travis Williams has games like the last two, we lose to CU. If he plays like he did against SC we should win.

[noneyadb]

Travis Williams?

[oc_ute]

easier to refer to him as TW2

[Tony (admin)]

Travis Williams?

Haha. Freudian Ute slip?

[Anonymous]

Geez, no kidding. And I can’t even blame auto correct.

I fell asleep reading. Failed to set
my alarm. Dogs woke me to feed them right as I would be stepping aboard my regular train. I might as well quit and crawl back into bed.

I did watch the Utah vs OSU game on Football in 60. Interestingly, it was finished in 46 minutes. I had a pad of paper out and Troy Williams had 6 passes that were thrown poorly. The very first play of the game they went deep and that was overthrown, but did not count due to a defensive holding call on the play. He also had one pass that should have been intercepted. Counted only one dropped
Pass, so that excuse is off the table.

They clearly went to the run plays way too often and they ran out of gas in the 2nd half. A second back like Zach Moss would have helped tremendously.

[Charles Satterfield]

No question beating one of the Pac 12 brand names will give a boost to momentum. I think a win here opens up several big bowls.

[Sweetness]

UCLA opened as a 7 point favorite…that’s not good. A full touchdown spread indicates Vegas thinks there is a pretty good sized gap between the two teams. We were only a 9.5 point favorite over Arizona at home.

The one redeeming factor here is that we’ve certainly been playing under our potential since the USC game, and these recent performances are most likely the reason for the spread. If we get a healthy Tim Patrick back, and one of either McCormick or Moss, I feel good about where the offense will be. Defense, we’re going to need the corners and D-line to make some huge plays. I think it’s unreasonable to expect the defense to shut down UCLA without Marcus and Sunia, so we’re going to need them to come up with a couple really big plays…a pick six, strip sack deep in their territory, be like +2 or +3 in turnover margin.  Having Marcus and Sunia out worries me a lot against a very athletic UCLA team.

Gosh, this game is huge!