Oregon Ducks vs Stanford Cardinal NCAA Football Odds
So, with the quite possibly the biggest game of the 2011 college football season right around the corner, I have flip flopped more times than a presidential candidate during a primary debate on picking the winner of Saturday’s match up between the No. 6 Oregon Ducks at No. 2 Stanford Cardinal.
Ducks vs Cardinal
Venue/Stadium: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California
Time/Date: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, November 12, 2011
NFL Odds From: Betonline.com
Spread (ATS): Stanford -3.5
Over/Under: 67.5
Decisions, decisions as another top-10 BCS showdown takes place with National Championship hopes hanging in the balance.
Although it’s not a matchup of No. 1 versus No. 2, viewers can expect a fiery one here.
While both team’s cupboards are full of offensive weapons, its Stanford’s defense that is most likely to make the difference in this game.
They have been discreetly installing key elements explicitly designed to stop Oregon’s offense without even knowing it. But the tools have been in place for a while now, and will finally be noticed on Saturday night.
Offensively, it all comes down to one of the best players to ever compete on the college gridiron, in Stanford’s Andrew Luck, who will get the extra boost of playing in front of a rabid home crowd that will be anticipating avenging last year’s loss to the Ducks at Autzen. Add that into the mix and it’s hard to best against the Cardinals.
However, the Ducks have the weapons to stand toe-to-toe with Stanford offensively, especially their speedy backfield.
And although the Ducks are not quite blowing away their opponents like they did in 2010, including last week’s 34-17 romp over Washington, they are still putting up an average of 46 points per game, including three games of 56 points or more. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Against the Huskies, the Ducks turned on the afterburners, pulling away from their opponent in the third quarter, fueled by junior running back LaMichael James who ran for 156 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.
James was aided by junior RB Kenjon Barner and freshman RB De’Anthony Thomas, both who recorded a touchdown each, while quarterback Darron Thomas passed for 156 yards and a score of his own.
Defensively, Oregon looked better than it has in games past, as the Huskies were unable to strike on the Duck defense who was led by senior safety Eddie Pleasant’s two interceptions.
A repeat performance will be needed if Oregon wants to shut down Luck and his crew.
No easy feat when they will not only have to figure out how to contain Luck, but also running back Stefan Taylor who has rolled up nearly 1,000 yards on the season with eight rushing TDs as well as 18 receptions for a pair of scores.
Matt’s Prediction: Stanford 45, Oregon 38–
With their win over Washington, the Ducks are 3-0 away from Autzen, but this final away challenge in Stanford will be their toughest test since playing No. 1 LSU at Cowboy Stadium in their season opener. If you put these teams on a neutral field and they play 10 times, each one probably wins five.
But I have decided that it will all come down to which defense makes the biggest and most consistent stops — and the Cardinal have shown when they absolutely have to make a play defensively, they do. Not to mention the Cardinal have covered nearly all of their games this season, and are perfect in the red zone on offense.
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