FiveDimes recently released over/under regular season win totals for college football teams.
Here is an early season look at the UCLA Bruins in the Pac-12.
Over/under
FiveDimes has UCLA at 9.5 regular season wins. Last year, the Bruins went 9-3 in the regular season. The line features a better return with the over at +100, while the under is -140.
The upside
No Oregon resides on the schedule. That’s a major bonus for the Bruins in their quest to reach double-digit wins. The rest of the schedule, though, shouldn’t invoke too much optimism.
UCLA should get off on the right foot in the non-conference season with two home games against Virginia and BYU, and a road contest at UNLV.
From there, the schedule will get more difficult, but UCLA should have a bevy of talent to help guide them through the difficulty of the Pac-12 slate.
Head coach Jim Mora is entering his fourth season and he has recruited well since being in Los Angeles. Freshman quarterback Josh Rosen will likely be the starter. Rosen was the nation’s top quarterback recruit.
He will have some help in getting accustomed to the offense with nine of 11 starters returning, including five returning starters on the offensive line.
In what is a common theme for most defenses in college football, key players have moved on to the NFL or graduated. UCLA is no different, but linebacker Myles Jack, likely one of the most versatile players in the nation, returns.
There’s plenty of talent on the defensive side of the ball, with Deon Hollins anchoring a solid pass rush. Hollins had nine sacks last season.
The downside
Sure, Rosen was one of the most coveted players on the recruiting trail last season. Now he’s a first-year freshman.
He may be as talented as any young quarterback, but he still enters the season as an unproven college commodity. That’s scary for the Bruins, which leaned on NFL quarterback Brett Hundley during the past two seasons.
He will get three games to get adjusted, but it will come to a halt when the Bruins must travel to Arizona in the season’s fourth game.
The betting public will find out a lot about Rosen and the talent-laden Bruins in games four through six, with trips to Arizona and Stanford sandwiching a home game against Arizona State.
Those three games may be the difference in the over/under.
The verdict
If the Bruins can win two of three against the Wildcats, Sun Devils and Cardinal, then the Bruins should achieve the over.
The rest of the schedule sets up nice, and if UCLA can only lose one of those contests, it can afford to lose another game, which wouldn’t likely be much of a possibility until the final two games of the season.
Those final two games will feature road contests at USC and Utah, which could be problematic (although USC is in the same city).
However, with how much talent UCLA should have and without Oregon on the schedule, 10 wins is a distinct possibility, as long as it can get through the difficult stretch toward the middle half of the season.
