UCLA Bruins 2016 NCAA Football Preview
UCLA BRUINS
PAC-12 Conference – North Division
2015 Record – 8-5
ATS – 5-8
2016 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating Rank
South Division #2
Conference #4
2015 Recap
There was a ton of excitement heading into the season as UCLA featured a highly-recruited QB in Josh Rosen. The season had its ups and downs, and overall, the season can probably be considered a success if for no other reason than “The Rosen One” got a lot of experience and looks well poised to deliver many more wins in the years to come. HC Jim Mora now has a record of 37-16 in his four years here and that is a big improvement over the previous four-year segment in which they went 21-30.
2016 Preview
OFFENSE
Yes sir. It’s Josh Rosen and ..? Only three starters return on offense other than Rosen, and to make things more interesting, the Bruins have a new OC and plan on utilizing more of a pro-style attack. Rosen will be without his top two WRs from last season who accounted for almost 2000 yards (!) receiving and 15 TDs. The Bruins are also going to miss dependable RB Paul Perkins who ran for over 1,300 yards and 14 TDs while catching 30 passes. It gets better. Not really. The offensive line might be the area of most concern for HC Jim Mora as the group only returns two starters. The good news is that they have two RBs (Sotonye Jamabo and Nate Starks) back this season and they both averaged over 6 yards a pop on the ground in 2015. It’s great to have Rosen at the controls but this offense looks to be a work-in-progress.
DEFENSE
We are really high on the UCLA defense this season, particularly if they can find a replacement for the 13 sacks that Kenny Clark and Aaron Wallace provided in 2015. That is almost half of their sack total from the previous season.
The Bruins return 9 starters and look solid at all levels of the defense. The talent on paper is there. The experience is there. Our only worry is that, injuries notwithstanding, UCLA has disappointed us on defense under Mora’s watch giving up 402, 399, 386 and 416 yards the past four seasons.
The run defense has some nice size at the DT position and the secondary returns all four starters. That is going to come in very handy considering some of the passing attacks they face in 2016.
SPECIAL TEAMS
UCLA has a gaping hole to fill with Lou Groza Award winning PK and all-time PAC 12 leading scorer Ka’imi Fairbairn no longer with the team. They also need to find a new punter and new return specialists. Complete reload and big question mark.
MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 4.0
MEGALOCKS says:
Whoa. Three of the four games are at Texas A&M, at BYU and home to Stanford. That is a tall order for a team breaking in so many new faces on offense. The good news is that they have a budding star at QB and a solid defense.
Overall, we give the BRUINS a 4.0 ATS Value Rating (Below Average) this season. After picking up a 17-10 ATS record their first two seasons under Jim Mora the Bruins have had back-to-back seasons of 5-8 ATS. The offensive consistency may not be there early on and we wonder about the proficiency of the special teams. Balancing this uncertainty out is the QB, defense and coaching. Feels like a wait and see approach.
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Website
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Forum
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News
http://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/
http://bleacherreport.com/ucla-football
http://www.dailynews.com/ucla-sports
http://www.insidesocal.com/ucla/
https://twitter.com/UCLAFootball @UCLAFootball
https://twitter.com/thucnhi21 @thucnhi21 Thuc Nhi Nguyen
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