Arizona at Oregon Spread

Written by Steve Janus

This Friday the No.1 Oregon Ducks will host the No.21 Arizona Wildcats in a Pac-10 showdown. The Ducks come into the game off a bye, and will look to get the offense back on track after barely squeaking by with a 15-13 win at California in their last game. The Wildcats also got last week off, and will look to end a two-game losing streak, as they fell 24-21 at home against USC in their last outing. Oregon has won two straight over Arizona, but needed double-overtime to take home a 44-41 win. If you are thinking about betting on the game this weekend, the current college football odds have the Ducks favored by 19.5-points over the Wildcats at home.

Arizona (7-3, 4-3 Pac-10): The Wildcats will need to get the offense going if they want a shot at beating the Ducks this week. Arizona has scored just 38 points in their last two games, and that simply won’t cut it against the Ducks high-powered offense.

In the Wildcats last game against USC, they actually outgained the Trojans 404 to 382, but almost everything came in the passing game, as quarterback Nick Foles threw for 353 yards and three touchdowns. Arizona finished with just 51 yards on the ground, led by Keola Antolin, who had 38 yards on 10 carries.

Because Arizona had such a hard time running the ball, they had just 22 minutes of possession against USC, and while they nearly came away with a win, that likely won’t work against an Oregon offense that is going to put points on the board if you keep giving them the ball. Arizona has scored 86 points in their last two meetings with the Ducks, but both have resulted in a loss.

Oregon (10-0, 7-0 Pac-10): The Ducks had scored at least 42 points in every game this season, so a lot of credit has to be given to the California defense to holding Oregon to just two touchdowns, only one on offense, but with a full week to prepare, you have to figure the Ducks offense will be back on track this week.

Running back LaMichael James finished with just 91 yards rushing in the Ducks last game against California, and was held out of the endzone for the first time this season. James rushed for 117 yards in last year’s game against Arizona, and I have a pretty good feeling he is going to get back on track this week. The Wildcats have allowed 422 yards rushing in their last two games, so keeping James doesn’t figure to happen.

Quarterback Darren Thomas also struggled in the win over Arizona, completing just 15 of 29 for 155 ayrds and a touchdown, but should be able to bounce back with a solid performance in front of the home crowd.

Looking at the Odds: A lot of people might want to jump on Arizona after what happened to Oregon in their last game against Cal, but I don’t think that is the right move at all. I think the Ducks are going to come into this game and completely dominate the Wildcats from start to finish. The Ducks are averaging 61 points at home this season, and while they likely won’t get to that mark, I think they have no trouble pulling away in this one. My final score prediction is Oregon 48, California 24.

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