Beat the Bruins and the Huskers have a shot at a strong final act in 2024

Three keys and a prediction for Nebraska-UCLA.

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

The good news: UCLA (2-5, 1-4) visits Lincoln off its bye week having scored 17 or fewer points in six of seven games this season. Nebraska (5-3, 2-3) is 10-3 under Matt Rhule when allowing 17 or fewer. The Bruins’ natural state on offense, at least from a points perspective in 2024, is right in the zone the Huskers have needed to be since last season.

The bad news? Could be that UCLA’s outlier performance came the last time out. The Bruins scored 35 against Rutgers, picking up their first Big Ten win as a 4.5-point underdog on a tricky, cross-country road trip with an 11 a.m. start. Was it a sign of a corner being turned under first-year coach DeShaun Foster? Fair question to ask.

Also of note: Two of Nebraska’s three losses under Rhule when allowing 17 or fewer points came last November at home with NU playing for bowl eligibility.

Circa Sports opened the line for this game at Nebraska -9 on Sunday, but it was down to -6.5 by Tuesday. It’s a move that doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. Yes, I’m well aware of Nebraska’s recent history of failing to meet expectations, particularly in November, but even accounting for that, there still appear to be some big edges in this game for the Huskers.

From a matchup standpoint, based on the stats, this game looks a lot like Nebraska-Colorado on paper. The Buffs were about a touchdown underdog in that one, so maybe this week’s early line move was in the right direction.

Can the Huskers make this former Pac-12 team look like the last one? Let’s break it down.