Vegas oddsmakers opened the line against Arizona State this weekend at UCLA + 7.0, and for the first time this season or even in the Dorrell era that we can remember, the line has not moved at all. In every sports book that we reviewed the line has stayed solidly at 7. Can there be any more consensus than that? The only changes are with the over/under which varies from 50 to 52. So if the sports books are our guide then the final score will be in the area of 29-22 ASU over UCLA, which sounds about right.
As for what to look for today, we would expect Dennis Erickson to stack the box with 8 players and dare Ossar to become a passer, which is the logical thing to do. There is no way read more
This week, Vegas oddsmakers opened the betting line at UCLA - 3.5. That quickly tightened to - 1 and today many sports books have the game as a pick em. That shows how confident bettors are in Karl Dorrell to be a less than mediocre team in Arizona. Sad days indeed. Meanwhile, Ben Howland’s #2 ranked team was out last night playing a pick up game against Azusa Pacific and played like a champion. #8 Michigan State lost to Div 2 Grand Valley State in an exhibition! Anyone think that will ever happen to a Howland coached team?! Hopefully, Darren Collison’s knee injury will not be bad. Get better DC!!!
Vegas bookmakers opened up the line on the Wazzu game in Pullman today at UCLA favored +8.5. But during the week that line tightened to +6 across the board. Only this morning did the line tighten even more in at least one book to +5.5. So betters have yet again gone against the opening line when UCLA is favored. Dorrell's troubles with Wazzu and on the road and against lesser opponents are well documented. Bettors are weary of his record against the spread as well. We see this ending up with a win by a much wider margin as we have said. Go Bruins!!
Vegas oddsmakers finally came out with a line on the Cal game … today. The reason for the delay was most likely due to the uncertain QB situation for both teams. Now that Pat Cowan is expected to play and Nate Longshore might play the oddsmakers felt comfortable setting the line. The line however is a bit sketchy, from Cal being favored by 1 to being favored by 2.5. In a close game that is a big spread. Anyhow, we said on the Bruin Show earlier this week that Cal would win 34-17, but we think we can win this game. As long as Dorrell and Walker follow our game plan we can do this. We might actually predict a win tomorrow morning. We did predict the SuC upset! Anyhow, we are still not ready to make that leap so we are sticking with our prediction.
The spread on the game has widened in the last couple of days and has UCLA favored to win by 21.5 to 22.5 points. The line started out at 22 then tightened to as much as 20.5. 3 touchdowns is a huge spread for a Dorrell coached team. It's surprising with his record that bettors feel they can trust him with such a big margin. But the numbers look so strongly in our favor. The last time we saw this was against Utah. And we all know how that turned out.
Could it happen again, twice in one young season?? Sure. But it won't happen this Saturday. Notre Dame is that bad and we are at home. All we have to do is maintain possession and time of possession and we will win. That is not hard to do against this Notre Dame squad. If ever there was a time to run the ball, go for easy pass plays, it's this game.
The line on the Oregon State game first took a while to come out due to the big question at QB. Then when it did come out it came out pick 'em. Then during the week the spread moved in favor of Oregon State, to a point by midweek. Today the spread is at its widest and its strongest in favor of OSU with one service at -2.5, with the range starting at -1.5. The over/under opened at 55 and has since tightened a little to 54 ~ 54.5. By all measures this game should be close. We predicted on The Bruin Show earlier this week that our Bruins will win this game 34-31. We predicted a win because Karl Dorrell has said this week's practice was great and that the team was going to play a great game. Since Dorrell himself is answering the bell and is ready to give a clinic on football 101, there should be no reason for a let down. Go Bruins!!!
This week we are favored by various sports books to win at home against Washington by 6 to 7 points. The line opened at 10 and tightened quickly to 6 and has somewhat eased up in the last day or so. It may be the Cowan effect. The over under opened at 50 and tightened to 45 and has loosened back to 47-47.5. If you are to believe the oddsmakers, UCLA should win 27-20 or thereabouts. It's odd that bookmakers, having been burned by Dorrell more often than not in the last 4 years are still betting on him to deliver tomorrow, especially after such a demoralizing loss. Last year, we got burned by Washington St. at home after the demoralizing loss to Notre Dame. One would think that factors into the calculation.
Other notable games: read more
Editors Note: What happens when you write posts at 5:30 in the morning before heading off to work is you make mistakes. Thank you to the reader who pointed out we got the Vegas Line backwards. This post has been corrected.
Hard to believe, but the line on our home game against Washington opened with UCLA favored by 10. The over/under opened at 50. Bettors have quickly tightened the spread all the way down to now 6 points as of this morning. Bettors are starting to distrust Dorrell again … although strangely the sports books think better of him.
The spread for this week's game is a little on the odd side, as if the betting community doesn't know what to make of the #11 ranked team in the country. The spread opened at UCLA -16 with the over/under at 48. Since then the spread has alternately tightened and widened. -14.5 to -16.5 and th O/U 43.5 to 45. Weird. Here we have a Utah team that has lost all of its playmakers on offense, and some on defense, sporting one of the worst offenses AND worst defenses in the country, after having played no one of significance. On the other side of the ball we have UCLA, stacked with talent and experience and a 2 game winning streak along with a high ranking. What is wrong with this picture?? We simply don't get it.
If you believe the oddsmakers, UCLA will win 32 - 16 or thereabouts. We don't see how read more
This week's Stat of the Week was a little difficult for us. Not because we coudn't find one, but because there were too many. What we look for in the Stat of the Week is the key to victory for us, something in the statistics that will prove to be a deciding factor in the game … a stat that we can watch throughout the game to gauge how our team is doing.
The Stat of the Week for our first game at Stanford was read more
