College Football Betting Preview: Oregon Ducks at Virginia Cavaliers Oregon at Virginia Saturday, 12:30 pm PT - ESPN2 Opener: Oregon -22.5 O/U 59 Current: Oregon -21.5 O/U 61 Power Rating: Oregon -22 Recommendation: Oregon Oregon ventured to the Eastern Time Zone back in Week 2 of the 2010 campaign. On that night, the Ducks trounced Tennessee 48-13 as an 11.5-point road favorite. They will be hoping for a similar result Saturday at Virginia in the first meeting between the two schools. As of Wednesday, most books had Oregon installed as a 22-point favorite with a total of 60.5 or 61. Gamblers can take the Cavaliers to win outright for a +900 return (risk $100 to win $900). Oregon has covered the spread in eight consecutive games as a road favorite. The Ducks opened 2013 with a 66-3 win over Nichols State last Saturday as 59-point home chalk. The 69 combined points slipped over the 66.5-point total thanks to a touchdown with 3:45 remaining. Marcus Mariota threw for 234 yards and one TD without committing a turnover. The sophomore signal caller also rushed for 113 yards and a pair of scores on just five carries. De’Anthony Thomas rushed for 128 yards and two TDs. Kevin Parks scored on a 13-yard TD run with 2:36 remaining to lift Virginia to a 19-16 win over BYU as a 2.5-point home underdog in its season opener last week. The Cavs lost the turnover battle (2-1), were out-gained 362-223 in total offense, and yet somehow they found a way to get into the win column. That’s a good thing for fourth-year head coach Mike London, who can’t afford another season like 2012 when UVA limped to a 4-8 straight-up record (2-8-2 ATS). Before the spread cover against the Cougars, the Cavs had gone 0-7-3 ATS in their 10 previous home games. Despite the win over BYU, quarterback play still appears to be an issue. The new starter, third-year sophomore David Watford, completed 18-of-32 passes for 114 yards with one TD and one interception. Watford was hesitant to look down the field and that might have been a good thing against BYU, but UVA is going to need more offense if it wants to keep pace with Oregon’s high-octane offense. Note that UVA will be without starting guard Sean Cascarano, but both teams are otherwise injury-free. Virginia owns a 3-6 spread record as a home underdog on London’s watch. Dating back to 2004, the Cavs have won five of six non-conference home games against BCS foes. The lone defeat came in blowout fashion when Southern Cal came to Charlottesville and dealt out a 52-7 shellacking as a 19.5-point road favorite. I don’t like to eat more than three touchdowns worth of road chalk, especially when a team has to travel across the country. However, this smells like a blowout to me. Unless UVA can create turnovers galore, I just don’t see it having enough offensive firepower to stay within reach. I’ll call it Oregon by a 48-16 count.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 00:55:01 +0000
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