Indiana stays in Bloomington for a second straight weekend as the Hoosiers prepare to face a surging UCLA program.
The No. 2 Hoosiers (7-0, 4-0) will host the Bruins (3-4, 3-1) on Saturday afternoon at Noon ET at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington (FOX).
Indiana is 1-0 all-time against UCLA, with the first and only meeting coming a year ago at the Rose Bowl. The Hoosiers won that game 42-13, and in so doing announced their presence on the national stage. They haven’t left.
It has been a whirlwind start to the season for the Bruins. After an 0-3 start they fired second-year coach Deshaun Foster. Also caught in the upheaval was former IU quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri, who was fired from his post as UCLA offensive coordinator.
Tim Skipper has taken over on an interim basis and UCLA has gone 3-1 since, including wins in their last three games. The 47-year-old Skipper has been a college assistant since 2001. He served a couple stints as interim head coach at Fresno State and has a career record of 10-8.
The Bruins are just No. 104 in scoring offense at 22.4 points per contest. But they have posted 33.3 per game during their current three-game winning streak. UCLA is giving up 27.4 a contest, which comes in at No. 94, but under Skipper that average has dropped to 21 a game.
PFF grades UCLA as having the No. 73 offense and No. 103 defense in the country.
UCLA’s wins have come in their last three games, over Penn State (42-37), at Michigan State (38-13), and vs. Maryland (20-17). Prior to those three wins, the Bruins lost to Utah, UNLV, New Mexico and Northwestern, with the first three coming under Foster.
6-foot-6 sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava (ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va) has generally been solid during the UCLA winning streak, although he did struggle at times this past Saturday vs. Maryland and briefly left the game with an injury. On the season he has completed 65.2% of his throws for 1,355 yards with 10 TDs and five INTs. He has also rushed 74 times for 360 yards and four scores. He’s been sacked 16 times, or 2.29 times per game, which comes in at No. 97.
So what’s the outlook for this Saturday in Bloomington? Everything is pointing to the Hoosiers by a wide margin.
As of Monday morning, the gambling forecast is calling Indiana a roughly 21.5-point favorite.
ESPN’s FPI model gives IU a 96.2% chance to win. The Hoosiers are No. 4 in FPI while UCLA is No. 64. ESPN’s SP+ model projects a 40-13 IU win, and gives them a 96% probability to pull it out.
The early weather forecast for Saturday is calling for a cloudy day with a high temperature of 63 degrees and a 24% chance of rain. Obviously you’ll want to check back on that later in the week.
We will of course have much more on this game in the days to come.
To help you plan for this Saturday, here are the gameday details:
FOX’S BIG NOON KICKOFF
It will be a festive pregame scene as FOX’s national Big Noon Kickoff show will be on site outside Memorial Stadium. We’ll have more details on the plans for this event.
GAMEDAY TIMELINE
- 7 a.m. Tailgating & Parking Lots Open
- 9:30 a.m. B-Town Boulevard Opens
- 9:35 a.m. The Walk & Gameday Rally
- 10:30 a.m. Stadium Gates Open
- 11:30 a.m. Marching Hundred Pregame Show
- 12 p.m. Kickoff vs. UCLA
TICKETS AND PARKING
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