New Mexico vs UCLA Odds, Picks & Prediction – Friday Night College Football

• The winless UCLA Bruins are hefty 15.5-point favorites vs New Mexico in college football action Friday night
• The Lobos covered as heavy underdogs against Michigan in their opening game of the season
• Read below for early New Mexico vs UCLA betting line, preview, prediction and pick

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The UCLA Bruins (0-2, 0-2-0 ATS) will try to turn their season around when they host the New Mexico Lobos (1-1-0, 1-1-0 ATS).

The college football odds are riding the home team, setting them as heavy favorites, even against a New Mexico side that covered a 34.5-point spread in its season opener against the Michigan Wolverines.

Action gets underway tonight at 10 pm ET from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, with the Big Ten Network carrying the broadcast.

See below for the odds, preview and my New Mexico vs UCLA betting prediction.

New Mexico vs UCLA Odds

The Bruins are a heavy 14.5 point home favorite, and an extremely short -625 on the moneyline, while the Lobos are +450 underdogs to win outright at the Rose Bowl. The total sits at 52.5 points.

Odds as of September 12 at 6 pm ET. Be sure to check out the best DraftKings Sportsbook promo code before placing a bet on any Week 3 College Football matchup.

UCLA Struggles on Both Sides of Ball

The Bruins have been off balance all year, starting with a 43-10 blowout loss at home to start the year to Utah. The Utes shredded UCLA on the ground, running for 286 yards and four TDs.

Most recently, it was self-inflicted wounds that cost them in a 30-23 loss at UNLV.

UCLA outgained the Runnin’ Rebels, but a pair of costly turnovers did them in.

The good news is that Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava looked far better than his debut, throwing for 251 yards with a TD and an interception.

Still, the Bruins are last in the Big 12 in points and total yards against. Offensively, they are bottom-3 in total yards, pass yards and rushing yards.

Lobos’ Start Almost as Uninspiring

New Mexico hasn’t done a lot of things great. They stayed in the ball park with 13th-ranked Michigan in a 34-17 loss.

The following week, they needed to rally from a fourth quarter deficit to score two late TDs to beat FCS-level Idaho State. Not exactly the best way for new coach Jason Eck to celebrate his first win with the program.

One of the bright spots in that win, though, was running back Scottre Humphrey who ripped off 141 yards on the ground.

He’ll try to gash a UCLA defense that giving up a whopping 217 rush yards per game early on.

New Mexico vs UCLA Prediction

• Pick: New Mexico +15.5 (-112 at DraftKings)

I don’t believe the Bruins will start the year at 0-3 — they should be the more talented team on paper, but will have to prove that on the field.

UCLA’s defense has been bad to start the year, and if the Lobos can establish the run, they have ample points to play with to cover this lofty spread.

The Bruins are also allowing a monster 70.4% conversion rate on third down, the second-worst mark in college football. They’ll turn it around with a win Friday, but they won’t be able to solve all their problems in four quarters.