2022 Sun Bowl – UCLA vs Pittsburgh
posted December 29
The Game
The Sun Bowl isn’t the GRANDADDY OF THEM ALL, but this game has a rich tradition and it helps get the ball rolling for us on Friday afternoon. Pitt was unable to defend their Coastal division title but still finished a respectable 2nd (8-4, 5-3) behind North Carolina. UCLA was in the hunt for a trip to the PAC 12 Championship Game deep into the campaign and were one of the most entertaining teams to watch during the regular season.
The Details
UCLA -5.5 Pittsburgh (53.5)
MEGALOCKS LINE – UCLA -7
“Vegas” Implied Projected Score: UCLA 29.5 Pittsburgh 24
UCLA offense vs Pittsburgh defense
The Bruins have moved like a TREMENDOUS MACHINE (#3 FBS total offense) and they’ve done it with a devastating ground attack (#4) and efficient THROW GAME (#15 pass efficiency). One of the most disappointing quitting scenarios of the bowl season could be unfolding in real time as the Bruins will almost certainly be without a few star players including QB DTR (25-7 TD to INT, 11 rush TD) and all-Universe RB Z Charbonnet (1,359, 7.0, 14 TD). And who knows about #1 WR J Bobo? That makes this game very tough to handicap even with a small army of Pitt defensive studs also deciding to pack it in for the season. We think backup QB E Garbers will do a good job if called into action but you just never know. Pitt has the #16 defense in the nation but we won’t get into all the players that’ll be missing in this game. It’s a SKELETON CREW, yo.
Pittsburgh offense vs UCLA defense
A wise man once said, something ain’t worth doing if you don’t give 100%, so Pitt decided to make sure BOTH sides of the ball did their best to bail on the team. Starting QB K Slovis is done as is star RB I Abanikanda who booked over 1,400 yards and an impossible 20 TDs during the regular season. A decent offense goes to a major question mark although Pitt still has a few fine options at RB. Back-up QB N Patti isn’t horrible and UCLA’s defense is an afterthought on many occasions, especially whilst defending the pass. The Bruins match-up well in that Pitt’s focus will almost certainly be to run the darn ball and UCLA has been ok from time-to-time defending the ground game (#30).
Trends, Intangibles and More!
This will be Chip Kelly’s first bowl game with the Bruins as last year’s Holiday Bowl date with NC State was safely and effectively cancelled due to “testing” for the sniffles…..Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi is 1-4 in bowl action……The Sun Bowl is the 2nd oldest bowl game (Rose Bowl), along with the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl.
Summary
UCLA was probably one of the more obvious teams to have stars leave the nest, and here we are. We didn’t think Pitt’s roster would be that depleted and that’s a bummer. We recommend waiting until close to kickoff if you wanna get down on this BAD BOY. The best pre-flop option might be to take UCLA once the player availability news settles as we feel pretty good about the offense under Garbers. Not sure why, but we do.
Conclusion
No leanage.
Note:
‘Official play’ implies we have played the game for our standard wager amount.
‘Lean’ implies we are comfortable suggesting ‘small potatoes’ on the game if you want to get down on some sweet action.
‘No leanage’ implies we won’t be involved in the game from a betting standpoint. In-game wagering possibilities only.