NCAAF Football Picks – Tough Decision Between UCLA and Kansas State

When it comes to NCAAF football betting picks, it doesn’t get any harder than deciding who is going to win this Saturday’s game between the UCLA Bruins and the Kansas State Wildcats.

Or…does it? I’ll get to that later, but…

Both the Bruins and the Wildcats had decent 2009 seasons. The Bruins finished at 7 and 6 while the Wildcats finished at 6 and 6. In 2009, the Bruins beat the Wildcats by a score of 23 to 9.

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That game was in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl. This game is at Kansas State and that’s why the Wildcats are slight favorites to beat the Bruins on Saturday.

How slight? Does less than a 2 point favorite sound slight to you?

UCLA Bruins vs. Kansas State Wildcats

Where: Bill Snyder Family Stadium, Manhattan, KS

When: September 4th, 2010 at 3:30 pm EST

TV: ABC

NCAAF Betting Lines

UCLA Bruins +1 ½ -110 O 44 ½ -110

Kansas State Wildcats -1 ½ -110 U 44 ½ -110

The football game picks trends favor neither team in this game.

• The UCLA Bruins are 5 and 0 ATS in their last 9 non-conference games.
• The Kansas State Wildcats are 4 and 1 in their last 5 games at home.
• The Kansas State Wildcats are 5 and 1 in their last 6 games overall.
• The Kansas State Wildcats are 1 and 4 against the spread in their last 5 games in September.

The UCLA Bruins could be in a world of trouble in this game even though coach Rick Neuheisel is sitting on three straight great recruiting classes.

The Bruins have issues on both the offensive and defensive side of things. On offense, they’re not sure if sophomore QB Kevin Price is the man to run their Revolver offense. Price hasn’t looked great so far and the offensive line is out of sorts. LT Xavier Su’a-Filio, who started every game for the Bruins in 2009, is on a church mission. He won’t be available for any UCLA game this season.

Coach Neuheisel suspended RT Mike Harris for the opener against Kansas State because he violated team rules and starting left guard Jeff Baca was ruled ineligible for the season.

No wonder Price looked terrible during the spring! Prince, by the way, might not even play this Saturday. Bad offensive line and a back-up quarterback? I’m beginning to think that UCLA might be one of the less than smart NCAAF football picks against the spread on Saturday.

Then again, Kansas State has questions surrounding them as well. Coach Bill Snyder is in his second year after returning to take over a depleted program under Ron Prince. Snyder, for those who don’t remember, was one of the top coaches in all of college football in the 1990’s.

He did an excellent job last season taking the Wildcats to a 6 and 6 record. This season Snyder is hoping that he can do even better. The biggest questions surrounding K-State is who will play quarterback this season and whether or not Snyder has anything left as a coach.

Don’t expect those questions to play a part in this Saturday’s game. Kansas State will try to groom a new quarterback as the season wears on but they won’t need to find the next coming of Michael Bishop, the man that put them in the National Championship hunt in 1998, just yet.

Instead, they’ll rely on an offensive line that returns 4 starters and running back Daniel Thomas, who rushed for 1,265 yards in 2009, to put a beat down on the UCLA Bruins.

Behind that experienced offensive line, the Wildcats should control this game. UCLA won’t have much going for it offensively with a weak O-line and a beat up Prince or a second stringer in at QB.

I just don’t see how the Kansas State Wildcats lose this game. That makes them one of the better NCAAF free picks to bet in the sportsbook on Saturday.

NCAAF Betting Pick: Kansas State Wildcats -1 ½ -110

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