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UCLA vs Minnesota: prediction and projected score

We project UCLA 24-19, a 5.4-point margin with 42.8 total points; UCLA wins 64% of the time.

Matchup analysis

Our model projects UCLA 24, Minnesota 19 at Huntington Bank Stadium in Week 10. That is a lean: UCLA wins about 64% of the time by our estimate, with a projected margin of 5.4 points and 42.8 combined points. Tags: upset alert, leans low scoring.

UCLA (No. 7) is 7-0 against the 42nd-toughest schedule so far, scoring 34.4 and allowing 15.3 points per game (+19.1 per game). Minnesota is 5-2 against the 75th-toughest schedule so far, scoring 26.6 and allowing 20.1 points per game (+6.5 per game).

UCLA's middle-of-the-pack offense (44th of 139 in our opponent-adjusted ratings, worth about 29.6 points against an average defense) meets Minnesota's strong defense (37th) โ€” an even matchup on paper, so game script and turnovers will decide how many points UCLA puts up. UCLA's strong defense (24th) should limit Minnesota's below-average offense (92nd of 139 in our opponent-adjusted ratings, worth about 24.4 points against an average defense).

College football is noisy: even a well-rated projection misses the final margin by about 14 points on average. Based on how real results have scattered around our numbers, the final margin should land somewhere between UCLA by 28 and Minnesota by 17 about 80% of the time.

Minnesota gets about 2.1 points for playing at home. UCLA is still favoured on the road, so the ratings gap is bigger than the value of playing at home.

Market lines

Market lines ยท Source: The Odds API, ESPN, Action Network ยท Updated Oct 29, 9:25 AM UTC. Shown for information; not an input to our projections.

No market line has been posted for this game yet.

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UCLA vs Minnesota: stat comparison

Basic
StatUCLAMinnesota
Points per game34.4#3626.6#83
Points allowed per game15.3#1220.1#35
Yards per play6.38#435.41#117
Yards per play allowed4.92#204.82#16
Rushing yards per game239.3#10107.0#135
Net passing yards per game194.3#104230.7#64
Rushing yards allowed per game107.7#10134.4#41
Net passing yards allowed per game194.0#49146.0#6
Turnovers per game1.00#931.00#82
Takeaways per game2.43#21.29#21
Sacks per game2.29#542.14#57
Sacks allowed per game1.29#380.86#10
Advanced
StatUCLAMinnesota
EPA per play+0.11#54-0.05#130
EPA per play allowed-0.17#3-0.07#19
Success rate46.7%#3539.8%#113
Success rate allowed33.3%#239.7%#48
Explosive play rate13.7%#4511.9%#91
Explosive plays allowed11.1%#5711.0%#48
Havoc rate16.7%#1517.7%#10
Havoc allowed12.8%#5513.6%#79
Points per scoring opportunity3.78#963.57#108
Points per opportunity allowed3.68#534.50#117
Average starting field positionown 35#3own 34#5
Opponents' starting field positionown 26#14own 26#15
Offensive plays per game (pace)68.0#4962.4#103
Situational
StatUCLAMinnesota
Rushing EPA per play+0.17#19-0.14#137
Passing EPA per play+0.03#97+0.00#104
Rushing EPA allowed-0.05#28+0.05#79
Passing EPA allowed-0.28#1-0.17#7
Rushing success rate52.7%#336.8%#128
Passing success rate38.7%#10341.3%#74
Run stuff rate13.3%#1522.9%#134
Passing-down success rate30.7%#7522.2%#137
Passing-down success allowed17.5%#131.3%#96
Third-down conversion rate47.4%#2735.4%#112
Third-down rate allowed28.6%#430.1%#8
Red-zone touchdown rate62.4%#6859.9%#82
Red-zone TD rate allowed50.0%#3566.4%#98

# = rank among 138 FBS teams. Efficiency numbers exclude garbage time. Per-play numbers of teams with a weak schedule are pulled toward their opponent-adjusted values (fully at one standard deviation below an average schedule). Source: play-by-play (cfbfastR / sportsdataverse), aggregated by us.

More: UCLA schedule ยท Minnesota schedule ยท all Week 10 projections

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Projections are statistical estimates for entertainment and analysis only. They are not betting advice and nothing here guarantees any result.

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