College Football Picks – Oregon to Prevent UCLA’s Hollywood Headlines

UCLA may have upset Texas earlier in the season, but don’t expect any College Football Picks declaring that will happen as number 1 Oregon hosts the Bruins this week.

This Pac-10 matchup should prove to be a memorable one, but I would expect it to be that way for a Ducks team on their way to BCS glory.

UCLA Bruins (3-3) at Oregon Ducks (6-0) – Thursday, October 21 9:00 ET ESPN, ESPN 3D

Autzen Stadium (54,000) – Eugene, Oregon

College Football Line:
UCLA Bruins (2-4 ATS)  +24
Oregon Ducks (4-2 ATS)  -24
Over/Under Game Total – 61 ½

Oregon is coming off a bye week and will host the UCLA Bruins, a team lacking much of a passing game. That is usually not the way you defeat a BCS hopeful.

The Bruins have been a one-sided offense this year, developing their running game with the Pistol offense. They are happy with the ground game averaging 223 yards a game rushing, which ranks 13th in the nation.

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UCLA has a passing game that has suffered immeasurably while Head Coach Rick Neuheisel developed the running game. The Bruins average less than 100 yards a game and rank a horrid 114th in the FBS standings.

The Bruins only had 27 yards passing in that huge upset against Texas last month, but don’t expect them to pull that off against the Ducks. You would be hard-pressed to find any College Football Picks saying UCLA wins this one straight up.

The word is out on this run-only team as demonstrated in their 35-7 domination by the California Golden Bears. They rushed for a mere 26 yards in this loss but didn’t get a victory here. California obviously was able to key on the run.

Oregon ranks 35th in FBS rushing defense allowing 126.5 yards a game. This should be good enough to keep UCLA’s only weapon, their rushing game, at bay.

The Bruins are coming off a bye week, so there is only one thing that worries me on this contest. Head Coach Rick Neuheisel is a sneaky little shyster, and he LOVES the spotlight maybe more than winning.

With 2 weeks to work on his passing, he could have this offense looking different than this year’s game tapes would have you believe. He may have been planning to use this time for a passing camp and try for a second massive upset in an otherwise forgetful year.

College Football Picks on this game need to take into account his skilled offensive coordinator Norm Chow to help turn this team around. Chow worked at BYU with Lavell Edwards helping develop legendary passing offenses over those years.

The Ducks are looking to be in the BCS Championship game, and the last thing head coach Chip Kelly is going to let happen is an upset by conference rival UCLA.

Oregon’s powerful offense leads the nation in total yards with 567 total points with a 54.3 average per game. Offensive leader, sophomore quarterback Darron Thomas, is back and healthy after a shoulder injury at Washington State October 9th.

Running Back LaMichael James anchors this 3rd ranked rushing offense in the nation by putting up 169.6 yards on the ground per game and leading the FBS individual standings.

The Oregon defense can be scored on, but don’t expect anything in the second half. They have only allowed 13 points in the second half, so you better have a big lead early to deal with this bunch.

Oregon is 0-5 ATS the last 5 times they played a Thursday night game. This isn’t the most important statistic when making College Football Picks on this game, but it does matter.

The last thing the Ducks will do is allow an upset here. To me, this would mean a more conservative approach than to key on the Bruins rushing game. They need to be ready for anything.

The strongest evidence for College Football Picks points to the fact that Oregon will win this game easily, but to take UCLA +24 points in a more conservative win against a team looking for headlines.