NCAA Football Friday Betting – UCLA Bruins at Arizona State Sun Devils
Two teams for whom a lot has gone wrong this season will make last ditch efforts to salvage something on Friday night, when the UCLA Bruins (4-6 SU, 6-4 ATS) visit the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-6 SU, 3-6 ATS) in NCAA college football sports betting action in the Pac-10 Conference, scheduled to kick off at 9:30 PM ET at Sun Devil Stadium (natural turf) in Tempe, AZ.
Friday, November 28
BetUS Sportsbook NCAA Football Betting Odds: ARIZONA STATE -10.5
Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* UCLA has covered five of its last seven games
* UCLA has lost 11 of its last 16 games SU
* UCLA has played five of its last six games UNDER the total
* UCLA has covered four of its last six road games
* UCLA has lost seven of its last eight road games SU
* UCLA has played four of its last six road games UNDER the total
* ASU has lost six of its last eight games SU
* ASU has covered two of its last eight games
* ASU has covered one of its last five home games
* ASU has won 17 of its last 24 home games SU
Also…
* UCLA has covered the last five meetings
* UCLA has won five of the last seven meetings SU
Arizona State had sustained a six-game losing streak at one point, but wins over weaklings Washington State and Washington have put them in position where, if they win here and next week against arch-rival Arizona, they can actually get themselves bowl-eligible.
But in that department, they’ve got nothing on UCLA, which can likewise get to a bowl. Of course, they would have to win this road game and then next week against USC, which is a much more daunting task.
Last year Arizona State was ranked ninth in the country when they beat the Bruins by a 24-20 count, moving behind 152 rushing yards. Rudy Carpenter (who’s now made 41 consecutive starts) had 25 touchdown passes and ten interceptions last year, and in 2008 he hasn’t been an utter failure. But eight of his 15 TD passes have come against Pac-10 lesser lights like U-Dub, Wazzou and Stanford. ASU has had a young squad; in fact, ten different true freshmen have seen action for Dennis Erickson.
It is the experience of Carpenter that really holds the key for ASU, however, especially the edge in that department he holds over UCLA’s Kevin Craft, who was forced into action at season’s start due to injuries to Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan. Craft was picked off four times in the season-opening win against Tennessee, and we wish we could tell you that he has made progress, but in the last three contests he’s had no TD’s and nine interceptions, while completing just 50%.
UCLA “broke out” with 157 rushing yards against Washington two weeks ago, but they had only 213 total rushing yards in the four games prior to that, so excuse us if we’re not convinced. At the line of scrimmage, they are a negative 1.9 yards per carry (2.7 ypc for; 4.6 ypc against). ASU has dealt with an inconsistent running game as well, but with 323 yards in the last two games, we are more sold on the Sun Devils’ progress here.
We just don’t see any fundamentals here that favor UCLA. And Carpenter, who has started 41 straight games and is one of only five four-year starters currently operating in Division I ball, is playing his last home game.
ASU is not the ideal team you want to lay points with, but we’ll go ahead and do that, spotting the 10.5 points in the BetUS NCAA college football betting odds.
