UCLA Football: Chip Kelly squares off with Herm Edwards in the desert

UCLA football hopes to get back to winning ways on their trip to Tempe. Can the Bruins take down Arizona State in the battle of new Pac-12 head coaches?

Chip Kelly‘s first season at UCLA has been a year of growing pains, of setbacks and breakthroughs and then more setbacks. There will be no bowl game for the Bruins this season after they dropped their seventh loss of the year in Week 10. But the opportunity to play spoiler is omnipresent for a young team that has been on a roller coaster in 2018.

Joshua Kelley and Dorian Thompson-Robinson have been a couple of revelations that continue to develop. Kelley has taken over the backfield duties, rushing for more than 100 yards in five of his past six games of the season. Thompson-Robinson has shown flashes of potential at quarterback, though he is recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the loss to Utah and has shown diminishing returns in last week’s loss to Oregon.

Arizona State is another team in transition. With Herm Edwards taking over the program this year after Todd Graham’s ouster, the Sun Devils have been a pleasant surprise after entering the year with low expectations. Just above .500 in the standings, Arizona State needs at least one more win from their last three games to reach bowl eligibility.

Eno Benjamin has been one of the top running backs in the country for the Sun Devils. Benjamin is fifth nationally in both total and per-game rushing, and 11th in rushing touchdowns. Coupled with the receiving prowess of N’Keal Harry, who is a top-20 receiving threat in touchdowns and yardage, they have the pieces of a dangerous offense yet rank just 62nd in total scoring offense.

Which flawed but promising side will win in the desert on Saturday? Here’s how you can watch the Pac-12 South matchup between UCLA and Arizona State:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 10
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Location: Tempe, Ariz.
Venue: Sun Devil Stadium
TV: Pac-12 Network
Live Stream: Pac-12 Live | FuboTV

Keys to Victory

Arizona State needs to control the clock to overtake UCLA and earn the necessary sixth win for bowl eligibility. Ranked 92nd in time of possession, they are actually averaging a minute more per game with the ball than the Bruins. The Sun Devils need to home in on that advantage and keep the ball out of UCLA’s hands as much as possible.

For UCLA, their issues with scoring are secondary to the troubles keeping opponents off the scoreboard. They need to cut a couple of touchdowns off the 33.6 points per game that they give up per game. The Bruins more than anything need to hold Benjamin in check to ensure they have a chance of returning home with an upset victory.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of oddsshark.com

Point Spread: Arizona State -13.5
Over/Under: 61.5

Prediction

Arizona State is a two-touchdown favorite in this contest, but the Bruins are going to keep things far closer on the scoreboard. The two teams won’t quite hit the over, falling a few points short of the 61.5 points set for the total points line.

Final Score: Arizona State 31, UCLA 28