The Heartland Line
UCLA climbs to No. 3 and USC to No. 4 in Big Ten power rankings after road wins
UCLA moved up to No. 3 after winning 17-15 at Oregon, and USC rose to No. 4 after a 31-23 win at Penn State. Next up for the Bruins is Wisconsin.
Both Los Angeles programs moved up in the latest Big Ten power rankings from USC Trojans On SI. The two teams won road games that looked very different from each other. UCLA climbed from fifth to third after a 17-15 win at Oregon. USC rose from sixth to fourth after beating Penn State 31-23 at a White Out game in Beaver Stadium.
Ohio State stays first in the USC Trojans On SI rankings, and Indiana stays second. The Buckeyes beat Maryland 45-16. The Hoosiers came from behind to win 20-17 at Nebraska. That puts the unbeaten Bruins (5-0, 3-0 Big Ten) right behind the conference's top two teams at the midpoint of the season.
The outlet called UCLA's win in Eugene ugly but important. Oregon turned the ball over seven times. Dylan Raiola went 6-for-19 for 43 yards with two interceptions and a strip sack before Dan Lanning benched him for third-stringer Brock Thomas. UCLA's offense had problems of its own. Nico Iamaleava turned it over three times, two of them on interceptions, and missed the second half with a leg injury. Ty Dieffenbach, a transfer from FCS Cal Poly, replaced him and threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Knight in the fourth quarter. Knight also ran for more than 100 yards and a score. The report says coach Bob Chesney still has holes to fix, starting at quarterback.
USC (6-1, 3-1) got the kind of road win it hadn't managed yet this season. Jayden Maiava threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns. Freshman receiver Trent Mosley returned and gave the offense a lift. Penn State stayed close until safety Christian Pierce forced a fumble by receiver Brett Eskildsen to seal the game. Lincoln Riley called it "one of my favorite wins as a head coach," USC Trojans On SI reported.
UCLA's next game is a big one. Wisconsin (4-1) visits the No. 12 Bruins on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC. The Badgers dropped one spot to eighth in the rankings during their bye week. They had won four straight before the break and are 2-0 in Big Ten play. The outlet wrote that Luke Fickell's team should not be overlooked as an upset threat.
The market has UCLA as a modest favorite. The Bruins are -147 on Novig, one of the venues pricing the game, and the best sportsbook price on UCLA is -142 at FanDuel. The spread is UCLA -3.5 and the total is 46.5. Full pricing is on the Wisconsin at UCLA game page.
The quarterback situation is the main question for UCLA this week. Iamaleava's status after the leg injury will decide whether Dieffenbach starts against a rested Wisconsin defense. The Bruins have also turned the ball over too often. A win would keep UCLA unbeaten in league play and tied with Ohio State and Indiana atop the conference standings going into the second half of the season.
