UCLA Football: Staff predictions vs. Arizona State Sun Devils

The UCLA football team takes on the 24th-ranked Arizona State football team on Saturday looking to gain some momentum down the stretch.

The UCLA football team has been tough to watch this season. The Bruins have two really good wins, one a historic comeback against Washington State and the other a huge road win over Stanford, but they have had a lot of duds as well.

UCLA is 2-5 on the season and scored 17 or fewer points in four of the team’s five losses. There has been a different team showing up every week, making it hard to get any momentum and actually string together some wins.

However, this could be the beginning of a good run that somewhat saves the season. The Bruins have scored 30 points in each of the last two and have a chance to win consecutive games at home against the Arizona State Sun Devils.

The Sun Devils are not an easy team to beat as the 24th-ranked team in the nation, although they have the same conference record as the Bruins at 2-2.

Here is how the LA Sports Hub staff sees the UCLA football team’s matchup against Arizona State going down.

Jamaal Artis (7-6): 27-17, Arizona State

It would be tempting to be optimistic that the UCLA Bruins could use the momentum of beating Stanford on the road last week and think they could beat Arizona State at home.

Someone else can do that because the Bruins will get beat by the Sun Devils at home Saturday night.

The Sun Devils have Emo Benjamin running the ball, he’s coming off 3 straight 100-yard rushing games. The Bruins have Joshua Kelly who had 176 yards against Stanford. I trust the Sun Devils defense more than the Bruins.

Hil Lopez (6-7): 30-22, Arizona State

UCLA went on the road last week and pulled out a convincing 34-16 win at Stanford. This week, they face the 24th-ranked Sun Devils at home.

UCLA has both wins on the road this season and is 0-3 at home. They are only 2-5 overall, but 2-2 in the conference. Even though they are going into this game on a high note, I expect them to come crashing down when they face Arizona State.

Former NFL head coach and ESPN analyst Herm Edwards is heading the Arizona State football program and they have been on a rise ever since he has taken over the team. He will be well prepared in this game and will send exuberant amounts of pressure at UCLA’s quarterback.

I expect this game to be close in the beginning, but Arizona State will pull away in the fourth quarter with the final score 30-22.

Redan Lopez (8-6): 27-20, UCLA

The Bruins surprised everyone by defeating the Stanford Cardinals on the road. They were heavy underdogs and are probably heavy underdogs going into this game against the No.24 Sun Devils.

I think last week’s game against the Cardinals was not a one-time thing though. The Bruins looked inspired and will need to keep Sun Devils’ lead back Eno Benjamin off the field in order to have success.

The Sun Devils will be wanting to recover after an embarrassing loss to the Utah Utes last week in which they mustered only 3 points. However, the Bruins will be very ready for the Sun Devils. This game will be close, but UCLA will finally pull out its first home win of the season.

Jason Reed (8-6): 30-2-, Arizona State

This is a really tough game to gauge as while the Sun Devils are ranked, they do feel like pretenders and this absolutely is a game that they can lose on the road.

What makes it even fishier is that the line for this game is only 2.5 points in favor of the Sun Devils (courtesy of the Action Network), which is really low for a ranked team against an unranked 2-5 team.

Lines like this tell me that the oddsmakers know something that we don’t and I would not be surprised if UCLA wins this game.

However, instead of using my conspiracy theory thinking to make my decision, I will go with the more talented team and give the nod to the Arizona State football team over the UCLA football team.