The Buffaloes are 4-3 in Deion's first season in Boulder. They blew a 29-point half time lead in their last game versus Stanford. The Buffs have had two weeks to prepare for the Bruins this week. Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders is one of the top five quarterbacks in college football, completing 70% of his passes for 8 yards per pass, 21 touchdowns to just three interceptions. Shedeur’s talent throwing the football gives us a chance to take an early lead or a back door cover. My model has UCLA by eight. Take the Buff plus the points.

Chip Kelly hasn't named UCLA's starting QB, but I'm not sure it matters as the Bruins have the Pac-12's top-rated total defense (282.6 yards per game, 11th nationally), scoring defense (14.9 points per game, 10th), rushing defense (68.6 yards per game, first) and passing efficiency defense (113.01, 18th). Chip Kelly Defensive Genius? The Buffs haven't been quite the same offensive machine on the road, totaling 33 points in the two Pac-12 away games.

Chip Kelly perfected what Deion Sanders wants to do offensively at Colorado, namely an uptempo output straining their opponents defense. The problem for Prime is that Kelly knows where the weak points are too...and has an excellent defense to do it. Couple that with a strong UCLA rushing attack and you have a great opportunity to control the clock from start to finish. The Bruins will put up points for sure, but as this game moves along Chip will use the ground game and the timer against Colorado, because as he knows you beat teams that only have an offense by taking away their offense. You'll score regardless, but taking a little longer to do so is how you seal the victory.