Oregon at Washington Line

Written by Steve Janus

The 8th ranked Oregon Ducks will look to stay unbeaten inside the PAC-12 when they go on the road to face the Washington Huskies. The Ducks defeated Washington State 43-28 at home for their seventh straight win since opening the season with a loss against LSU. The Huskies improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 inside the conference with a 42-31 win over Arizona. Oregon has won seven straight in the series, including a 53-16 win at home last year. All seven wins have came by at least 20 points.

Taking a look at the week 10 college football spreads, oddsmakers currently have the Ducks favored by 16 points with the total set at 74 points.

Oregon:

Despite the return of starting quarterback Darron Thomas and running back LaMichael James, the Ducks didn’t exactly have their way with Washington State last week. Oregon had just a 15-10 halftime lead with one of their two scores coming on a blocked punt that was returned for a score.

While Thomas started the game, it was backup Bryan Bennett who got this team rolling in the second half. Thomas went 8 of 13 for 153 yards and a touchdown, but threw two interceptions (one returned for TD). Head coach Chip Kelly would bench Thomas in favor on Bennett in the second half. Bennett completed just 4 of 7 attempts for 88 yards, but had two touchdowns to no interceptions. Thomas believes he is still the starter, but it’s safe to say his job isn’t safe even if he does start the game.

James returned to rush for 53 yards on 13 attempts, but it was Kenjon Barner who did most of the damage on the ground. Barner needed just 11 carries to pile up 107 yards and a score. Look for Oregon to continue to ease James back into action, as they want him healthy for next week’s game against Stanford.

The Ducks offense will look to get back on track against a Washington defense that ranks 96th in yards allowed, giving up just over 430 yards a game. Washington’s run defense does come in allowing just 133 yards a game, but allowed 309 rushing yards in a 38-51 loss at Nebraska and 446 in a 21-65 loss at Stanford.

Washington:

There is no question that the Huskies are going to be fired up for this game at home, but so far they haven’t exactly showed up against top competition. Those two losses two Nebraska and Stanford are their only two games that came against teams who were ranked at the time they played. This will be their first game at home against a ranked team, but they are going to need one heck of an offensive performance to pull of this upset.

Washington’s offense has been fueled by the play of quarterback Keith Price, but the sophomore is coming off his worst game of the season. Price threw for 277 yards on 16 of 30 passing, but had just one touchdown to three interceptions. In the Huskies previous seven games, Price had thrown 22 touchdowns to just five interceptions. With Oregon figuring to have their way against the Huskies defense, Price can’t afford to make any mistakes against the Ducks in this one.

With Price struggling, junior running back Chris Polk stepped up with his best game of the season. Polk carried the rock 34 times for 144 yards and five touchdowns. Another big game like that from Polk and the Huskies could be in business. Last year Oregon held Polk to just 77 yards on 17 attempts, but their run defense hasn’t been as strong as it was a season ago. The Ducks come into this game allowing 157.6 ypg, well above their 128 average from a season ago.

Price also figures to have a great opportunity to come away with a big game. The Ducks passing defense is 76th in the nation, allowing 239.4 ypg.

Betting Trends:

Oregon is 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games as a road favorite of 10.5 or greater.

Washington is 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 conference games.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in college football.

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