The UCLA Bruins have played in the first two Pac-12 championship games, but to play in a third straight title contest they'll probably have to win out from here.
The first step comes Friday night when the Bruins host the Washington Huskies at the Rose Bowl (9 pm ET, ESPN2).
UCLA trails first-place Arizona State in the South Division by one game; the Bruins host the Sun Devils next week.
On the other side of this match-up Washington can't win the North Division, but it would like to top the seven-win plateau, on which it's been stuck each of the last three seasons.
These two teams haven't met since U-Dub beat UCLA three seasons ago 24-7.
The Sportsbook line for this game listed the Bruins at -2 points over the Huskies.
The Huskies will try to spoil to the party on Friday; they are 5-4 ATS against the number this season, while the Bruins are 6-3 ATS. Washington is 4-5 on the totals; UCLA is 3-6.
View Washington Huskies vs UCLA Bruins Odds and Stats.
Those siding with the visitors in this one saw the Huskies listed as 2.5-point underdogs earlier this week at Sportsbook. Meanwhile, the over under line was 60.5 midweek over at Sportsbook.
It's a betting matchup between the No. 28-rated Bruins and the No. 35-ranked Huskies, according to the NCAAF Power Rankings here at Odds Shark. Predictive-scoring models run on this game indicate a potential 42-40 result in favor of the Huskies.
Washington won its last outing, a 59-7 result against Colorado on November 9. Washington covered in that game as a 28.5-point favorite, while the 66 combined points took the game OVER the total. Last time we saw the Wildcats, they had no answer for Myles Jack as the Bruins rolled to a 31-26 victory at Arizona Stadium.
How They Match Up:
The game also pits UCLA's No. 27-ranked offense, averaging 36.56 PPG, against a Huskies defense that ranks No. 27 this week at 21.78 PPG. The Bruins aerial game is averaging 263.78 yards per game, more than the Huskies secondary allows through the air, 209.67 YPG per game.
Defensively, the Huskies feature the league's No. 96-rated road run defense, allowing 209.67 yards per game. UCLA, meanwhile, ranks No. 37 in rushing offense at home.
A few Huskies at Bruins trends to consider:
Washington is 10-5 ATS in its last 15 games
Washington is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games
Washington is 4-10 ATS in its last 14 games on the road
Washington is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games on the road
UCLA is 6-3 ATS in its last 9 games
UCLA is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of UCLA's last 6 games
UCLA is 10-5 ATS in its last 15 games at home
Next up:
Washington at Oregon State, Saturday, November 23rd
UCLA at Arizona State, Saturday, November 23rd
