It's almost time for Penn State Football as the Nittany Lions will welcome Big Ten newcomer UCLA to Beaver Stadium for a Saturday afternoon showdown in State College.
With that being said, our staff here at Happy Valley Insider offers their predictions for Saturday's afternoon's showdown between the two programs.
JOIN TODAY AND GET 30 DAYS FREE! | THE LIONS DEN FORUM | PENN STATE FOOTBALL 2025 RECRUITING CLASS | PENN STATE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
SPREAD: Penn State -28.0 pts || Over/Under: 45.5pts
DYLAN CALLAGHAN-CROLEY — Penn State: 42 || UCLA: 6
Penn State, UCLA is a matchup that really should not be closed by any means as the Nittany Lions are the better team in all facets of the game outside of placekicker, perhaps at least through the first four games of the season.
Ultimately in this one, the big thing for me is UCLA cannot stay on the field offensively converted on just 27% percent of their 3rd down attempts on offense. While, defensively, they're allowing opponents to convert at a near 60% clip this season. That's bad news for UCLA, who may be facing honestly their best offense yet this season in Penn State.I know they played LSU and Oregon over the past two weeks but I do believe that this Penn State offense may be better than those two offenses this season. Penn State has been incredibly efficient, truly on offense once they've gotten the ball rolling this year.
The same cannot be said by the UCLA, who is averaging just .261 points per play this season, a far cry from Penn State to .541. I just don't see how UCLA moves the ball consistently against this Penn State defense especially if Chase Garbers is out for the game. The Bruins cannot run the ball, averaging just 2.5 yards per carry this season. Penn State will absolutely win the battle front consistently both against the run and the pass. As I said before, Penn State is by far and away the better team here and this should be a blowout on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium. Perhaps a game where Penn State can get their starters out of the game by the end of third quarter. Give me Penn State 42 - UCLA 6.
MARTY LEAP — Penn State: 45 || UCLA: 6
UCLA is bad. Like, bad bad. Other than Purdue and Kent State, there is a real possibility that UCLA is the worst team that Penn State will face this season and by a large margin. Factor in injuries to UCLA's starting quarterback, starting left tackle, and multiple key defensive players, and this one could get ugly and fast.
Penn State should once again be able to dominate in the trenches. With UCLA missing some pieces in the back of their secondary, the big plays in the passing game should return this week as well. It could be a good stat padding week for Drew Allar and his receivers. It should also be a big week of in-game development for young defensive players such as DaKaari Nelson, Ta'Mere Robinson, and Dejuan Lane who suddenly find themselves playing bigger than expected roles.
I'll never predict a shutout because shutting a team out in football is hard. No matter how dominant a defense is, all it takes is one fluky play or weird bounce to lose a shutout. So I'll predict the Bruins to score, but a shutout would not surprise me at all.
RICHIE O'LEARY — Penn State: 52 || UCLA: 9
This year's UCLA team is one of, if not the worst team in the Big Ten Conference and among the worst throughout all of Power-Five. They don't have a lot going on offense, as their starting QB Ethan Garbers hasn't practiced at all this week and even when he's out there, he's struggled. Their starting running back TJ Harden has 125 yards on 41 carries through four games and I would say that stat line looks like a single game stat line for Nick Singleton, but averaging 3.0 yards per carry would be doing a disservice to Singleton and on top of it all, the Bruins defense gives up an average of 400 yards and 30.8 points per game.
This all lines up to James Franklin and the Nittany Lions putting the pedal to the ground in this one, as we know he likes to put up big points when possible and Saturday should be the case, as Penn State should cruise to a win in this one.
DUB JELLISON — Penn State: 49 || UCLA: 7
Penn State opened as a big favorite over the Bruins and that has remained the case throughout the week, as it should. I have the Nittany Lions covering the 28.5-point spread comfortably.
Even if Nicholas Singleton is out on Saturday, Kaytron Allen is more than capable to carry the load out of the backfield and is in line for a big day. So to is Drew Allar and the pass catchers as the Bruins have struggled to stop anybody through the air. I expect a huge offensive showing by the Nittany Lions.
Let’s face it. The UCLA offense may be the worst in the Big Ten and that’s with returning starter Ethan Garbers under center. If Garbers indeed misses the game, Penn State’s defense could be looking at another shutout on Saturday.
Penn State comes into Saturday looking to move to 5-0 on the season and will do so convincingly with a struggling UCLA team coming to town.
ZANE BRANCEFIELD — Penn State: 38 || UCLA: 10
While the Bruins defense is not as bad as people think they are still not good. Especially with an offense as talented as the Nittany Lions going up against them. We should see a good share of wealth as well a good chance of a new kicker. Also UCLA could be without QB Ethan Garbers and even he is plays who is to say he is 100%. The Penn State defense will most certainly eat him alive and should easily win this game. While UCLA is Big Ten team, Penn State is in another tier.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
