UCLA Football: 5 reasons the Bruins will beat Colorado in Week 5
By Zach Bigalke
2. UCLA will keep the chains moving with at least 30 first downs
After four games, UCLA has more first downs than all but one team in the FBS. The Bruins have moved the chains 111 times, an average of nearly 28 first downs per game. Jedd Fisch’s offense has done a great job of keeping drives alive and pushing the ball downfield, translating all those first downs into 45 points per game.
The high-tempo offense is among the nation’s leaders in the stat despite one of the lowest time-of-possession averages among FBS teams. UCLA has the ball on average for less than 26 minutes per game. They rank 119th nationally in that mark and 11th among Pac-12 teams. It hasn’t mattered, as the Bruins continue to field one of the most potent offenses found anywhere in the country.
That won’t change on Saturday, as UCLA forces Colorado’s defense to stay on the field with one first down after another. The Bruins will finish with at least 30 first downs for the second time this season, after already topping that mark in the close loss at Memphis. Just as it has in its other games, the first downs will result in plenty of points for UCLA against the Buffaloes.