Penn State vs. UCLA Prediction 10-5-24 College Football Tips

The UCLA Bruins and Penn State Nittany Lions meet Saturday in a college football game at Beaver Stadium. Here’s a Penn State vs. UCLA prediction. We’ll look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best picks between Penn State and UCLA.

UCLA Bruins betting preview

The Bruins started the 2024 season with an away win over Hawaii and won 16:13. However, the next two games were disappointing losses, as UCLA lost to Indiana 42-13 and LSU 34-17, falling to 1-2 after three games.

Last weekend against Oregon, the Bruins trailed 28-10 at halftime and ultimately lost 34-13. QB Ethan Garbers recorded 118 yards and two interceptions. Leading the rushing team was TJ Harden with 13 carries for 53 yards.

Penn State Nittany Lions betting preview

Over on the Penn State side, they got a pretty routine opening win over West Virginia 34-12, but had to struggle a bit to secure a 34-27 win over Bowling Green the next weekend. Game three was another win, this time a 56-0 win over Kent State.

In Saturday’s game against Illinois, the Nittany Lions were ahead 7-7 early in the second half. Penn State outscored the Illini 14-0 the rest of the game and won 21-7. Drew Allar threw for 135 yards, but Kaytron Allen (102 yards; TD) and Nick Singleton (94 yards; TD) did most of the rushing work.

Penn State vs. UCLA Prediction

I’ll stay at Penn State, but the line is too thick for me to mess with. The Lions looked pretty good against a difficult Illini team over the weekend, especially in the second half. Penn State committed two turnovers in the win and held Illinois to 219 total yards (185 passes), 3.8 yards per play and 4 of 13 on third downs. On offense, Penn State really came through with its rushing attack (239 yards).

As for UCLA, they were pretty weak in their last game against a great Oregon team. The Bruins totaled just 172 yards (125 passes), 11 first downs and 1 of 10 on third-down attempts. The nine penalties and two interceptions didn’t help either. It will be another tough matchup for UCLA and I don’t think they will be up to it.