We have a big weekend coming up for NCAA football action. There are some high profile matchups featuring some big name rivals and some top 20 contenders. The AP, Coaches and BCS polls will probably all get jumbled about a bit by early Sunday morning.
The Oregon Ducks seem unstoppable this season with their speed and style. Yes, style. Maybe it’s a carry over from the snazzy uniforms they always show up in but the Ducks do have a certain style that is changing the face of collegiate football.
Oregon has yet to face any really stiff competition even though they have already beaten two Pac-12 rivals in California and Colorado. However, both of those games had point spreads hovering around 38 points… not a real big challenge for the mighty Ducks.
This Saturday Oregon gets its first real test when it faces the Washington Huskies… who have a pretty good team of their own. The Huskies have racked up wins over Boise State, Illinois and Arizona so far this year. Their only loss came at Stanford by a close final score of 31-28. Washington actually covered the nine point spread and came very close to tying the game against the Cardinals in the closing minutes.
So now the Ducks will go on the road a short trip and take on the Huskies in what will be one of the feature games of the day.
Nevada sports books opened the Ducks as 14.5 point favorites far and away the shortest number that Oregon has laid all season. Sharp players saw early value on the dog at this price and took Washington and the points which caused the line to move slightly down to 14. Still and all, many savvy bettors are still perceiving true value in that number as well. By game day they could be getting that money and then some.
The traditional big favorites with the public like Florida State, Clemson and LSU will be bet on heavily more towards the end of the week. As with Oregon and Alabama, look for those lines to be pushed even higher as the public climbs on board.
Elsewhere on football Saturday look for Oklahoma (-12.5) at Texas playing at Cotton Bowl in Dallas and LSU taking on the Florida Gators in Baton Rouge as 7 point favorites. Stanford goes to Utah as only 8 point favorites and Johnny Football and his Texas A&M Aggies go to Oxford to take on Ole Miss as 7 point favorites.
