6h ago football Edit

Penn State Football Opponent First Look: UCLA Bruins

Dub Jellison • Happy Valley Insider

Staff Writer

Penn State Football is off to a 4-0 start to the year after Saturday's victory over a ranked Illinois squad, which kicked off conference play for the Nittany Lions. James Franklin now have another Big Ten foe on the docket as UCLA is set to come to Beaver Stadium this weekend.

Happy Valley Insider takes a first look at the Bruins ahead of the matchup on Saturday night.

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Game/Broadcast Details:

Where: State College, Pennsylvania

Stadium: Beaver Stadium (Official capacity of 106,572)

Time: 12:00 p.m. ET

Television: FOX - Gus Johnson (PxP), Joel Klatt (Color), Jenny Taft (Sidelines)

Odds: Penn State opened as a 28.5-point favorite, over/under is 46.5 points.

Rough start to DeShaun Foster's tenure in LA:

DeShaun Foster's gaff at the podium during Big Ten Media Days in July was evidently a precursor for the type of season UCLA was in store this fall. The Bruins' first year head coach took over after Chip Kelly left the program to take the offensive coordinator gig at Ohio State and has struggled out of the gates.

UCLA is 1-3, which is tied for the worst mark in the Big Ten with Purdue, and are coming off three straight losses. The Bruins narrowly escaped their season-opener against Hawaii with a 16-13, but then began a brutal early season stretch which featured matchups with a still undefeated Indiana, No. 16 LSU and No. 8 Oregon, falling in all three games by three or more scores.

It's not getting any easier for UCLA heading into October, with a top-ten Penn State squad welcoming them to State College for the Bruins' first east coast trip of the season.

A peak at the numbers:

UCLA's 1-3 start in the Big Ten goes without saying, but the numbers offers little optimism for moving forward. After four games, the Bruins rank among the worst offenses in the country, averaging just 14.8 points per game, which is 128th out of 134 FBS programs. The defense hasn't been much better, surrendering over 30 points per game, good for 105th in the nation. Only Purdue has a worse mark in either category, giving up 33 points per game as a defense.

The Bruins had three quarterbacks play significant snaps a year ago, with Ethan Garbers playing the best out of the trio. The senior has taken a step back in 2024, however, having six interceptions to just three touchdowns, being the owner of the second-most picks in the conference.

For the first time in a long time:

It's been awhile since the Nittany Lions and Bruins have battled on the gridiron. So long ago that James Franklin hadn't even been born yet. The last time Penn State and UCLA played was all the way back in 1968, with the Nittany Lions winning 21-6 in the Coliseum.

The two programs actually played with regularity in the 1960s, facing off each year between 1963 and 1968. The Bruins had the upper hand during that six season stretch and hold a 4-2 lead in the all-time series.

UCLA will be the first of the four Big Ten newcomers to play in State College since the start of the most recent conference realignment changes to the conference.