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Every Friday of each game week, the BeaversEdge.com staff will give its predictions for Oregon State's matchup!
With the No. 15 Beavers (5-1, 2-1 Pac-12) set to face No. 18 UCLA (4-1, 1-1) at Reser Stadium on Saturday night, BeaversEdge Publisher Brenden Slaughter, recruiting analyst Dylan Callaghan-Croley, and writer T.J. Mathewson give their two cents on the matchup and who's going to come out on top!
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T.J. MATHEWSON'S PICK
I think the Beavers are going to win this game and win the battle of strengths when the Oregon State offense is on the field against the UCLA defense. Man, that UCLA defense is a tough group, studs at all three levels of the defense.
This game will come down to a scenario similar to the Utah game:
Oregon State just needs a handful of plays on offense to get the job done: whether it be Silas Bolden again, Anthony Gould takes one to the house, Damien Martinez rips off a big one, etc. One concern on that side is RT Taliese Fuaga’s status being unknown while facing Laiatu Latu, the Murphy twins, and that pass rush.
DJ hasn’t been great under pressure, so keeping his jersey clean is going to be a big help. The Beavers feel confident in Grant Starck filling in.
On the other side of the ball. I feel confident in the Beavers’ ability to make Dante Moore struggle.
He’s thrown a pick-six in each of his first two conference games while completing less than half his passes. This will be the second daunting environment he’s played in this season, and Oregon State is going to be aggressive sending pressure his way to speed it up.
It’ll be close, but I see the Beavers winning their 8th in a row at home...
PREDICTION: Oregon State 21, UCLA 13
TJ's season record (5-1)
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