Leave it to Rich Rodriguez to make lemonade out of lemons. With his experienced junior quarterback Anu Solomon injured, Rich Rod has rolled with sophomore Brandon Dawkins over the last three games, and the offense has looked much better.
After leading the Wildcats to a big 47-28 win over Hawaii, Dawkins starred in Arizona’s almost-upset of Washington last week. The dual-threat QB had 343 total yards (176 on the ground) and accounted for three touchdowns against the Huskies. The Wildcats lost 35-28 in overtime, but easily covered as 17-point home underdogs.
Dawkins is second in the Pac-12 behind only Christian McCaffrey in rushing with 391 yards. However, he might need to shoulder even more of the offensive load with his top two running backs going down. Junior Nick Wilson has missed most of the last two games due to injury, and is still doubtful to feature in LA. Meanwhile, freshman J.J. Taylor is now lost for the season after breaking his ankle in the Washington loss.
That might just be one injury too many, especially for an Arizona team that needs all the offensive weapons it can get to make up for a shaky defense.
UCLA’s 2-2 record through four games may look disappointing, but it’s not quite that bad given the context. They took Texas A&M to overtime in Week 1, and is looking more impressive given how well the Aggies have been playing. And last week, they played Stanford close in a 22-13 home loss. They were actually on course to push the 3-point spread but the Cardinal returned a fumble for a touchdown as time expired.
Star sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen (61 percent completion, 291 yards per game, 5 TDs, 4 INTs) hasn’t been putting up incredible numbers, but he’s faced two stellar defenses and has steadily improved his passer rating with each passing week. He could finally be primed for a breakout game against an unspectacular Arizona defense.
Rosen had the best game of his freshman year per QBR against Arizona. He went 19-of-28 for 284 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bruins to a 56-30 win in Tuscon.
After getting stuffed by Stanford’s front, the UCLA ground game should also have more success against a Wildcats defense which is second from bottom in the Pac-12 in rushing yards allowed per game against FBS opposition (244.3). The Bruins had 213 rushing yards and six touchdowns overall in last year’s meeting.
UCLA has had Arizona’s number since head coach Jim Mora’s arrival in Westwood back in 2012. The Bruins are a perfect 4-0 SU and ATS against their Pac-12 rivals in the last four years.
Writer’s Prediction
Rosen finally puts up some huge numbers as he leads UCLA (-13.5) to another rout of Arizona, 40-23.
