UCLA vs. Washington State point spread: Picking Bruins vs. Cougars

Washington State has been impressive early this season, but runs into its first true test in Week 6 on the road against UCLA. The Cougars enter that game as 3.5-point underdogs according to FanDuel and will hope to prove the oddsmakers wrong as they aim for a 5-0 start.

Quarterback Cam Ward has been nothing short of spectacular thus far, throwing for 1,389 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions. His 109 yards rushing and three touchdowns on the ground rank second on the team.

Still, FOX Sports betting analyst and former Oregon and NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz believes the Bruins, coming off a 14-7 loss to Utah, can take care of business at home. He pointed to an interesting stat to make his point, saying he believes Washington State will have some troubles on the road.

“My best bet for this week that I’ll put out on one of my other podcasts is gonna be UCLA first half in this game,” Schwartz told On3‘s Andy Staples. “There’s been six times this season a ranked team is on the road in their first conference game. Zero of the six of them have covered in the first half. It’s hard to play on the road.

“Washington State has played Wisconsin at home in the biggest nonconference game they’ve had in 25 years. They have not had a Power 5 nonconference game at home since 1998. Then they follow that up and play Northern Colorado and they blow them out and Oregon State comes to town and they blow out the Beavers. Everyone’s talking about ’em. Everyone’s loving them. Now they get to go on the road and play in the Rose Bowl. Talk about an emotional letdown.”

Continuing, Schwartz explained that the Bruins have one of the better defensive fronts that the Cougars have faced. Laiatu Latu and Darius Muasau have combined for seven sacks through four games, and UCLA ranks 11th in the country with 77.8 rushing yards allowed per game.

That will put the pressure on Ward and the passing attack to get things done. Although they’ve had no issues so far, Schwartz sees Saturday being a different story.

“UCLA’s front seven, though, is really freaking good,” he said. “I think people are not talking about that enough because so much focus is on the other Pac-12 schools. They kind of solidified themselves with a bunch of returning guys there. They obviously had to change their defensive coordinator. So I think this is a classic spot where a team is soaring so high right now in Washington State and now they’re playing in a completely different environment against a team that just had a terrible football game. So I like the Bruins first half. I think they win the game as well.

“There is a quarterback advantage here with Cam Ward and the way he’s playing and Dante Moore, but I think Moore can’t play any worse than he did against Utah. That’s a tough environment for a freshman quarterback. So I think the Bruins bounce back in a big way here.”

Staples, however, went the other direction. He likes what he’s seen from the job Jake Dickert has done, and the performance from Ward early on has been hard to ignore.

He admitted that he sees no flaws in Schwartz’ reasoning, but believes these teams are equally talented, and that plays into Washington State’s favor.

“I have a hard time at this point betting against Washington State,” he said. “I look at the way Jake Dickert has kind of galvanized that team. You’re right. This is a ‘bring your own energy’ kind of game because the Rose Bowl is kind of sleepy for UCLA games. It’s a huge, sprawling stadium. They just don’t get that many people in there. It can’t get that loud from an acoustic standpoint. But somehow I think the Cougars will be ready for this.

“They’re in a situation where if the teams are equal talent, I’m probably taking Washington State every time. …I feel like these two teams are pretty close. You are right about UCLA’s defensive front. We saw that against Utah. They wouldn’t let Utah do anything. So this is gonna be a good game. I will happily take 3.5 points though. Give me Washington State here. Excited to see what they keep doing because they’re on a mission, clearly.”

Kickoff between Washington State and UCLA is set for 12 p.m. PT on Saturday.