The Bowling Green Falcons and ULCA Bruins face off on Saturday in a Week 1 college football showdown at the Rose Bowl.
Bowling Green finished last season with a 4-8 record overall and the hope is that this will be the year they can finally get the program heading back in the right direction. Last season the Falcons finished in last place in the MAC in terms of total offense, and that will need to be improved upon here. Quarterback Matt McDonald is back and most of the time he makes the smart play, but they really need him to be more aggressive and take more shots down the field. On defense last season Bowling Green wasn’t awful and they were first in the league in terms of pass defense. This year and in this game especially, the defense is going ot need to step up in a big way.
On the other side of this matchup is the UCLA Bruins who finished last season with an 8-4 record and they hope this is the year that Chip Kelly leads them to the Pac-12 title. Dorian Thompson-Robinson was a bit inconsistent at times under center last year, but he is a duel threat quarterback, that has all the right pieces around him to succeed. UCLA brought in wide receiver Jake Bobo from Duke who should be a big playmaker in this offense. On defense, UCLA wasn’t horrible, but it’s going to need to be better this season. One big issue last year was the lack of a pass rush. In this game, UCLA needs to be in the backfield, making life tough on Bowling Green.
The Falcons are 5-1 against the spread in their last six road games. The Bruins are 5-2 against the spread in their last seven meetings. The over is 5-2 in the Falcon's last seven games overall.
UCLA is no doubt the better team, but I think Bowling Green will keep this game within 20 points. I think McDonald's is going to have a better game against this UCLA defense that wasn’t great against the pass last year. Look for Bowling Green to score enough here, to cover the spread here.
AUTHOR: Shane Mickle
Mitch's Take...
