The UCLA Bruins (7-5, 5-4 Pac-10) will meet Florida State (6-6, 3-5 ACC) from the Atlantic Coast Conference in the Emerald Bowl to be played in AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA on Dec. 27 at 8 p.m. (EST). The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.
Bruins are entering the Emerald Bowl on a high note after pulling one of the bigger upsets in series history Dec 2 by defeating No. 2 Southern Cal 13-9 at the Rose Bowl stadium. It was head coach Karl Dorrell’s first win over the Trojans and broke USC’s seven-game winning streak in the series.
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FSU finds itself limping into the Emerald Bowl having lost two of their last three games and three of their last five. In FSU’s last outing they lost 14-21 to Florida Gators in Tallahassee. The most deflating loss however came at home on Nov. 11 losing to Wake Forest 30-0. The Seminoles had to defeat Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference to become bowl eligible.
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Seminoles quarterback Drew Weatherford will try to keep his team from posting its first losing season in 30 years. Earlier in bowl preparations, head coach Bobby Bowden said he would not announce a starter under center until bowl week. Weatherford has split practice repetitions under center with backup Xavier Lee. Weatherford has been getting the majority of snaps in practice coming up to Wednesday’s game. Weatherford is the more experienced quarterback while Lee might be the most physically gifted quarterback.
There is no doubt the Bruins became bowl qualified on the back of its defense. UCLA currently ranks No. 33 nationally in total defense and has held seven of 12 opponents to less than 300 yards and two more under 350.
UCLA ended USC’s straight of 63 straight games of 20 or fewer points on Dec. 2, holding the Trojans to nine points.
Bruins’ sophomore quarterback Patrick Cowan never completed a pass until the season opener against Utah and saw limited action until replacing injured starter Ben Olsen in the game with Washington on Sept. 23. Cowan completed 20-of-29 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions but in a losing cause with UCLA going down to the Huskies 19-29. On the year Cowan completed 130 of 240 passes for 1,542 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions. His 130 completions rank No. 22 on UCLA’s single season list.
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The Bruins are favored by a -3 ½ point chalk with a total 40. The Bruins are currently on a 4-0 run and five of their last six in covering the line against the spread with three of the four cashing for the UNDER. The Seminoles have failed to cover in four of their last six football games and only covered five games on the season. The OVER cashed in 6-of-12 games in Seminoles games.
