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UCLA Football: Bruins are slight favorites over the Arizona Wildcats

By Mike Regalado

BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 13: Head coach Chip Kelley of the UCLA Bruins stands on the sidelines during their game against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 13: Head coach Chip Kelley of the UCLA Bruins stands on the sidelines during their game against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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The UCLA football team has opened as slight favorites against the Arizona Wildcats who will be visiting the Rose Bowl this weekend for a Saturday night game.

For only the second time this season, the UCLA football team is entering a game as favorites. The Bruins were expected to beat Cincinnati in the season opener as 15-point favorites (and lost), but have been underdogs in every game since.

RELATED: Play Calling/Outcome Analysis From the Cal Game

UCLA is not expected to win by that previous margin, according to oddsmakers, but they are expected to win by at least a touchdown as they are 7.5-favorites. The Bruins opened as 5-point favorites, but that has increased since the line was released on Sunday.

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This past weekend, UCLA and Arizona, had completely different results in their Pac-12 games. On Friday night, the Wildcats had Salt (Lake City) poured into their wounds as Utah decimated them by a score of 42-10.

The Bruins did some decimating of their own as they went up to the Bay area and smacked around Cal by the score of 37-7. Not only was it their first win of the season, but it was their first road win as a program since September 2016. Cal was favored by 7-points in that game and UCLA blew that out of the water with a 20-point victory.

UCLA has shown massive improvements in the last two weeks and that is expected to continue as they head into the last six games of the season.

It has taken some time for the Bruins to assimilate to Chip Kelly’s system, but it finally seems to be taking hold as both the offense and defense had solid performances against the Golden Bears.

Next. Kelley, Kelly, and the Bruins Strike Gold vs. Cal. dark

UCLA not only put up the most points in a game for the season, but they also allowed the least amount of points by an opponent. That should continue this weekend when the Bruins host the struggling Wildcats for homecoming.