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The Duke Blue Devils are perennially one of the most polarizing teams in all of college basketball, and that trend isn’t likely to change in the 2012-13 season. The team is ranked eighth overall in both the preseason AP and USA Today Polls, and they are ready to avenge themselves following a disappointing showing in the NCAA tournament last year.
The Kentucky Wildcats have become the epitome of a one-and-done culture for talented freshmen, but head coach John Calipari has become the master of utilizing his talent one year at a time. Talent doesn’t always win championships, but when it’s placed into the right system year after year, it’s tough to beat.
The Louisville Cardinals are set to enter the 2012-13 season as the No. 2 team in the country in both the AP and USA Today preseason polls. The team is stacked with talent, which is why they’re going to be expected to do great things come late in the year.
The Denver Nuggets began their season with three straight losses, but they’ve begun to turn it around with back-to-back wins against the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets. The Utah Jazz started 2012 with a win over the Dallas Mavericks, but they quickly dropped three of their next four contests. Both teams are 2-3 on the year, and both teams face off on ESPN Friday night.
The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the teams out West vying for conference supremacy this year, but they’ve had an inconsistent start to begin the 2012-13 season. The Portland Trail Blazers are a young group looking to win off of energy and excitement, and they’ll play host to the Clippers Thursday night on TNT.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have a healthy roster to start the season, but their results have been up and down following the trade that sent James Harden to the Houston Rockets. The Chicago Bulls are without NBA megastar Derrick Rose—and will be for quite some time—yet they’ve started off the year on the right foot.
The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide were finally challenged last week when they faced off against the LSU Tigers, but they ultimately came out victorious in a 21-17 battle with their toughest competition to date. The Texas A&M Aggies will look to test the Tide in the same way this weekend, as they’ve proven they can hang with the SEC so far.
The 13th-ranked Clemson Tigers play host to the Maryland Terrapins, in what could end up being one of the more lopsided contests in all of college football this weekend. These two teams have split their last 10 meetings five games to five, but the Tigers have proven to be contenders this year, while the Terrapins are a sub-.500 team at this point.
The Arizona Wildcats and the Colorado Buffaloes are both coming off big-time losses, but the difference is, one of them has a good chance of bouncing back this weekend.
The Baylor Bears finally picked up a win last week against the Kansas Jayhawks, giving them their first victory in five contests. The Oklahoma Sooners, on the other hand, have won four of their last five games.
The 16th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers are coming off a hard-fought win against the Michigan State Spartans, and while a win this week won’t earn them a division title just yet, it will help them get one giant leap closer to claiming a spot in the Big Ten championship game.
The San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers are considered legitimate contenders in the Western Conference, but it is the Spurs who have started their season perfect with a 4-0 record, while the Clippers have dropped back-to-back games against fringe playoff teams this season.
The Philadelphia 76ers made a monumental move this summer sending Andre Iguodala out West in exchange for Andrew Bynum, who is arguably the best big man in the game behind Dwight Howard. The only problem? Bynum’s yet to play a single minute.
The No. 11 Oregon State Beavers are set to travel south to take on the No. 14 Stanford Cardinal in what could be one of the more tightly contested football games this weekend. Both teams are coming off victories, and both teams are looking to finish the year in the top 14 for an at-large bid if they are unable to capture a Pac-12 championship this season.
The USC Trojans have not had the season that most expected them to have, as their loss last week to the Oregon Ducks was their third of the season. The team has now lost two games in a row, and they’re looking to finish the season strong, starting with the Arizona State Sun Devils this week.
The Oregon Ducks are coming off a game that saw them destroy a USC Trojans defense all game long, but they’re now heading to an environment that hasn’t been kind to them in the recent past. The California Golden Bears are just 3-7 on the season, but they would love to play spoiler to the Ducks BCS aspirations at this point in the season.
No. 3 Oregon Ducks (9-0) vs California Golden Bears (3-7)
Saturday November 10, 2012
Memorial Stadium, BERKELEY, CALIF.
10:30 PM ET
Moneyline: OFF
Spread: Oregon -28 from SportsBettingOnline
O/U: 67.5
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Oregon Ducks
The Oregon Ducks did whatever they wanted against the USC Trojans in their week 10 matchup. Kenjon Barner set a school record with 321 yards on the ground, which is the most ever allowed by a USC defense. Oregon also went for 730 total yards and 62 points in the contest, which are both also records against the Trojans.
The most dangerous part about Oregon’s attack, is that they’re not one-dimensional. If Barner were the only player making a difference, the Golden Bears could pack the middle and prepare for just him this weekend. That’s not the case, though, as redshirt freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota threw four touchdowns on 20-of-23 completions for 300-plus yards.
The Ducks did give up 51 points to the Trojans—six of which came in garbage time—but they’re more than doubling their opponents on average. This team is a good defensive squad this year, as they’re allowing just 22.9 points per game.
Against California, the Ducks need to stay the course, because this contest is being viewed as a bit of a trap game. Oregon has struggled in Berkeley in recent memory, including 2010 when they went undefeated and played in the BCS National Championship. Despite annihilating almost every team they played, the team from Eugene barely squeaked out a two-point victory against a very mediocre Bears squad. The Ducks need to come into Memorial Stadium ready to play. They are on track to challenege for a BCS title this year, but only if they continue doing what they’ve done so far. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
California Golden Bears
The California Golden Bears have disappointed up to this point in the season, and they’re looking to prevent their first streak of four losses in a row this weekend. The team is coming off a 21-13 loss to the Washington Huskies, which was their third loss in a row. They average fewer points than they allow, which is a recipe for disaster.
While the Ducks are dangerous in both the ground game and the passing game, the key to beating them is stopping the run. They have a young quarterback behind enter, and while he’s looked good so far in the year, you want to make him be the one to make plays rather than Barner or De’Anthony Thomas. Oregon thrives off of the run, and if you can take that away from them, it’s a whole new ball game.
The biggest advantage for California this week is going to be having the home crowd on their side. The Ducks don’t like traveling down to Berkeley, and while this game on paper belongs to Oregon every day out of the week, stranger things have happened in college football. Unfortunately for the Golden Bears, this is a different Ducks team than has traveled their way in the past. The crowd may rattle them early in the game, but by the time the second half rolls around, expect the road team to be the ones pulling ahead, and pulling ahead big.
Trends
O/U Pick: Over 67.5
Score Prediction: Oregon 48 – California 20
