Red Flags: 5 college football teams on upset alert in Week 10
- Two Pac-12 teams in tough road spots could be in trouble
- Could two rivals both get upset in the same week?
- Alabama faces its biggest test since the loss to Texas
4. UCLA Bruins
Opponent: at Arizona | Time: Saturday, Nov. 4, 10:30 p.m. ET (FS1) | Spread: UCLA -3.0
We were all over a ranked Pac-12 team going on the road to Tuscon to play a surging Arizona Wildcats teams last week in Oregon State. And the Beavers got got. So we're clearly about to run it back as the UCLA Bruins now have a turn going to play Noah Fifita and an Arizona team primed for chaos.
Frankly, this could be a bad matchup for the Bruins given the state of the offense. Whether it's been Dante Moore or Ethan Garbers, the UCLA passing offense has been pedestrian this season, but that's the best way to attack the Wildcats defense. Meanwhile, they have thrived while running the ball with Carson Steele and Co., but Arizona ranks Top 15 nationally defensively in EPA per rush.
Yes, the UCLA defense is absolutely the best defense in the Pac-12 and possibly one of the best in college football. But since the switch to Noah Fifita, the Arizona offense has really found its identity. Their quick-strike attack with well-timed shots has been beautifully executed and could be used in this game to negate the fierce Bruins pass rush.
At the end of the day, this game feels to me like it could and should end up being a coin flip. So with the unranked home team in Arizona being a slight underdog -- especially with what happened to the Beavers in this spot just last week -- the Wildcats are live to pull off the upset and earn bowl eligibility in the process.