Iowa vs UCLA: 3 Player Props and Best Bet for Friday, November 8

The cross-country trips continue for the Big Ten as the Iowa Hawkeyes (6-3) head west to face off against the UCLA Bruins (3-5) for the first time in nearly four decades inside the historic Rose Bowl on Friday night.

Iowa is fifth in the Big Ten standings, and the Hawkeyes still have an outside chance of making a surprising conference championship berth. The Hawkeyes have won three of their past four games, including a surprising 42-10 victory over Wisconsin last week.

The Bruins finally turned the corner in the past three weeks, defeating Rutgers and Nebraska in road matchups. UCLA returns home in search of their first win inside their friendly confines this season.

Will Iowa squeeze out a victory over the Bruins, or can UCLA win its third consecutive contest? We’ll cover that and our top three player prop bets below.

UCLA Bruins QB Ethan Garbers OVER 225.5 Passing Yards

Senior UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers has had an up-and-down season thus far. The 6-foot-3 signal-caller has completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 1,703 yards and 10 touchdowns, but he’s also thrown nine interceptions.

Garbers seems to either be on or off his game. In three straight games, the quarterback has hit 219 passing yards or more, and he’s been not turned the football over since the Minnesota contest October 12.

Iowa has a stout defense. Both Washington and Michigan State each eclipsed the 225-yard passing mark against these Hawkeyes, giving bettors confidence UCLA will be up to the task for Garbers to cover this player prop bet.

Iowa Hawkeyes RB Kaleb Johnson OVER 121.5 Rushing Yards

Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson is a man against boys seemingly at times. In nine games, the sure-to-be All-Big Ten performer has ran 170 times for 1,279 yards and 19 touchdowns. He’s averaging over 7.5 yards per outing for Iowa.

UCLA has already proven opposing teams can hurt them by running the football. Even in their two recent victories, both teams have surpassed over 100 rush yards against them. Johnson should have at least 122 rushing yards in the contest.

UCLA Bruins TE Moliki Matavao UNDER 34.5 Receiving Yards

Garbers has spread the football round the field, connecting with eight different receivers at least 12 or more times, and the Bruins have as many players that have at least 179 yards receiving this year.

The top receiver is tight end Moliki Matavao, a 6-foot-6 senior who has 303 receiving yards this year. Most of those have come in the past two weeks as the tight end had eclipsed 35 yards one other time this season.

Expect his two-game run of 10 catches for 156 yards to come to a halt against the Hawkeyes as he should not cover this player prop bet.

Best Bet: OVER 44.5

After years of low-scoring affairs, Iowa has seen its offense come to life this season. The Hawkeyes have scored 40 points in three of their past four games, and UCLA’s defense has been hit or miss this season. Expect this game to finish at least over 50 combined points on the evening.