The Wisconsin Badgers are just days away from their most important game of the season against the undefeated No. 12 UCLA Bruins.
Coming off their bye week, UW is 4-1, and after a tough season-opening loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Luke Fickell’s squad has been able to turn the ship around and now must travel out west to take on first-year coach Bob Chesney.
The Bruins will be without star quarterback Nico Iamaleava after he went down with a leg injury during last week’s gritty 17-15 win at Oregon.
Despite Iamaleava’s absence, ESPN's Bill Connelly still projects the Bruins to beat the Badgers 27-20.
According to Connelly's SP+ model, UCLA is given a 68% chance to win with a projected margin of victory of 7.2 points.
Since taking over Wisconsin ahead of the 2023 season, Fickell is 5-10 in true road games, and not many will be harder than what he is set to face this weekend.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: ESPN predicts the final score of Wisconsin football vs. UCLA in Week 7