Bold Predictions: Nebraska vs. UCLA

Matt Rhule, Dylan Raiola and Nebraska football return to the field for one of the Huskers’ most important games of the season as they seek bowl eligibility vs. UCLA on Saturday.

The Huskers (5-3 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) were reeling coming off a 56-7 loss at Indiana but rebounded in a significant way last week to nearly pull off a road upset of No. 4 Ohio State in a 21-17 loss.

Now, Nebraska returns to Lincoln for its first home game since a 14-7 win over Rutgers on Oct. 5 as it hosts the struggling Bruins (2-5, 1-4) at 2:30 p.m. CT this Saturday on Big Ten Network.

UCLA faced a daunting schedule to open the season but ended a five-game losing streak to No. 13 Indiana, No. 16 LSU (road), No. 1 Oregon, at No. 3 Penn State (road) and unranked Minnesota* with a 35-32 win at Rutgers two weeks ago before hitting a bye week.

Inside Nebraska publisher Zack Carpenter, staff writer Steve Marik and recruiting analyst Tim Verghese give their takes and projections on how they envision things playing out between the Huskers and Bruins in the latest edition of Bold Predictions.

*All rankings are current. Indiana was unranked, LSU was ranked No. 16, Oregon was ranked No. 8, and Penn State was ranked No. 7 at the time of those games.