UCLA vs Hawaii | College Football Predictions, Picks and Best Bets

[Music] and we head down to the islands that's right where the new look UCLA Bruins are going to travel to Hawaii for a 7:30 p.m. eastern time kickoff on CBS these odds have bounced around a lot I mean a whole lot over the summer UCLA now favored by 14 on the road Hawaii's money line plus 405 the total is now 542 at bet us the implied score here is around 34 to 20 on this uh UCLA 7-2 against the spread in their last nine as a road favorite but of course chip ain't here anymore uh Hawaii on the other hand I mean everybody talks about the island advantage that they've got they're six and three against the spread in their last nine under Chang as a home dog and that's even with the stadium that holds like you know 2,000 people I mean it's it's a High School stadium so they're still waiting for that gargantuan thing to be built uh Parker it looks like McBride the Hawaii wide receiver might still be out for this one you know potentially dealing with eligibility issues and whatnot I am very curious what UCLA's offense is going to look like with Ethan garbers running Eric the enemy system give me some thoughts here yeah I mean UCLA was just an absolute ton of turnover and kind of interesting we we saw um I don't want to use this word lightly but we did kind of see a checkout situation last year like at one point they were talking about letting Chip Kelly go and very clearly uh UCLA was kind of pulling down they they lose the defensive coordinator defense was third in EPA per play opponent had adjusted last year I mean just in historic performance they do lose LSU latu and if you look at kind of the concentration of tackles last year he was so important for what they were doing and being involved in every play so I do expect some regression for uh for UCLA on defense I don't think that's a hot take at all Hawaii uh somebody asked a question about this and I think we'll I think we'll cover it maybe in the Q&A in a little more uh detail like what do we do with Hawaii's performance or or maybe lack thereof last week I know I don't know if you guys were downloading the sport one app and watching on your phone at 11:00 but I caught some of it and man it just it was just a weird game and the travel stuff was odd and and and so I I just not put they played like 80 some odd guys right like I mean it was a lot of guys and we talked about this last week they said like Timmy Chang said he wasn't putting nothing on film before he used to LA right yep and so I think for all those Reasons I'm not like raising red flags I think Hawaii should have a potent offense that could maybe capitalize this is this is a classic one where if this game was in November be all over UCLA but I think there's going to be some jelling that has to occur on the UCLA defense and as much as I look you got Eric bamy you got um garbers there I mean garbers wasn't bad last year but I I'm just not sure that they're going to be able to you know have an offensive identity that's as as good as they want um I'd be more interested in maybe uh banking on some points being scored just because Hawaii's defense isn't great and UCLA is going to have the turnover against the high-flying Hawaii offense who is going to have some first mover advantage in that they've played they've gotten some reps uh and gotten some JS out of the way uh overall I think UCLA outclasses them but I think my only lean here would be maybe towards an over just because I do think this will get a little pointy with the pace of both teams and the fact that UCLA does have that defensive turnover that is you know not just regressing to the mean from their excellent performance last year but you incorporate the turnover as well I expect that unit to be uh a little bit worse I I can see where you're going there I can see where you going yeah last last week for Hawaii was ugly uh so much so that people adjusted their power ratings pretty significantly and think they might have adjusted a little too much personally like I yeah I've got the number at 13 on this um which I'm still I'm not quite to where I would I would take the 14 yet but uh when it was 16 and 18 back in the off season yeah like I felt pretty good about that uh look Hawaii's quarterback rer against that UC laa secondary I mean they got three transfer starters in the secondary uh you can count me intrigued on that Kyle what uh what is your breakdown on this one yeah I mean I I I'm taking a risk here I mean I I understand that I could look really stupid people could come in the comments be like what is wrong with him you know uh I get it you know I'm sticking my neck out there and it's not a comfortable bet to make but I'm gonna take Hawaii in this one before the season came I circled this game that I wanted to bet Hawaii so I did watch a decent amount of that game probably too much of that game on the app there last weekend uh really really ugly Hawaii clearly did not care didn't want to be there um is it it a perfect example of how a team can play when they completely Overlook someone or is Hawaii bad I think we're about to find out you know we find out in this game I think Parker was putting it nicely when he said UCLA's defense is due for regression this season like major regression they're going to be a lot worse than they were last year um the defensive line for UCLA was like a a massive strength now it goes to probably their biggest weakness and I think the secondary was helped so much by the fact that they got a great pass rush and now you have a secondary that's not going to be getting that same pass rush Hawaii's offense did look or out of sorts last week shagger was he's usually very great in Rhythm he didn't look good last week it was windy and rainy a little bit of wind this weekend but nothing like that and it's always somewhat windy in Hawaii uh no such excuse in a game like this a big name program visiting the island I think they'll be up for this game I think Hawaii scores enough points to at least stay in this game and I want be kind of low on UCLA a team that uh you know massive overhaul they want to see them prove it before I bet on them so sticking with my priors here and going with Hawaii yeah the the UCLA coach is a a first-time head coach Timmy changen was also a first-time head coach and I think they got blasted at home by Vanderbilt in the first game wasn't it wasn't it Mikey Wright that ran for like 300 something yards or whatever so you know first-time head coaches in their very first game I don't think there's a I mean there is a talent Advantage but uh but yeah I I like where Kyle's going with this let's go and lock it in he thinks there is an overreaction happening and he's going to ride with Hawaii plus the 14 on this one [Music] a [Music]