California @ UCLA preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 13, 2018 ) UCLA 37, California 7

After snapping a nine-game losing streak to rival Stanford last week, California looks to carry the momentum into Saturday’s regular-season finale against host UCLA. The Bears became bowl eligible for the second consecutive season when quarterback Chase Garbers scored with 1:19 remaining in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s 24-20 win over the Cardinal.

Garbers passed for 285 yards and a touchdown and ran for 72 yards on 13 carries in the victory while Nikko Remigio recorded nine receptions for 157 receiving yards and a touchdown. Garbers could have another productive outing Saturday against UCLA, whose defense has allowed a total of 101 points and 1,179 yards in back-to-back losses to Utah and USC. The Bruins fell 52-35 to USC and were steamrolled by USC freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis, who passed for a school-record 515 yards and threw four touchdown passes. “We’re a team, we don’t blame one side of the ball or one facet of anything else,” UCLA coach Chip Kelly told reporters. “I think we stick together as a group and that’s what we’ll always do. It’s offense, defense and special teams that make us up, it’s not just one side of the ball. I think when you get into that, you start finger-pointing and that’s not what we’re all about.”

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network. LINE: UCLA -1

ABOUT CAL (6-5, 3-5 Pac-12): Senior linebacker Evan Weaver had 13 tackles against Stanford and leads the nation in total tackles (164), total tackles per game (14.9), solo tackles (90) and solo tackles per game (8.2). Safety Ashtyn Davis and wide receiver Kekoa Crawford both missed the Stanford game with unspecified injuries and are listed as questionable for Saturday’s contest. Safeties Daniel Scott and Jaylinn Hawkins each had interceptions in last week’s win to lead the defense, which has allowed 22.5 points per game but will be tested by UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

ABOUT UCLA (4-7, 4-4): The Bruins lost to USC for the 16th time in their last 21 meetings despite a breakout performance from Thompson-Robinson, who passed for 367 yards with touchdown throws to Demetric Felton, Devin Asiasi and Chase Cota. The Bruins will finish with four consecutive losing records for the first time since 1921-24 but have one of the nation’s youngest teams. Freshman wide receiver Kyle Philips leads the team with 55 receptions while Thompson-Robinson has thrown 20 touchdown passes in his sophomore season.

EXTRA POINTS

1. UCLA has won five of the last six meetings against Cal and holds a 55-33-1 lead in the all-time series.

2. The winning team has scored at least 30 points in each of the last 15 meetings.

3. Cal is 5-0 when Garbers plays more than half the contest and 1-5 when he doesn’t.

PREDICTION: UCLA 35, Cal 31