NCAA Football Odds – Purdue Boilermakers at Oregon Ducks

BetOnline NCAA Football Odds: OREGON -12, Total 58.5

In the process of Oregon losing in the college football odds by putting up just 152 yards in its season opener against Boise State on the Blue Carpet, former Ducks coach Mike Bellotti, who is now serving as the university’s athletic director, was interviewed by an ESPN sideline reporter and was doing all he could to hold back from second-guessing Chip Kelly, his hand-picked successor, who was not pushing the right buttons to get his team going.

Here are some of the NCAA football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• PUR has covered four of its last five games
• PUR has lost seven of its last ten games SU
• PUR has covered two of its last six road games SU
• PUR has lost its last eight road games SU
• PUR has played five of its last seven road games UNDER the total
• ORE has won four of its last five games SU
• ORE has won five of its last six home games SU
• ORE has played four of its last five home games OVER the total

Surely this couldn’t have been a pleasant week for Kelly, when he was wide-open for criticism in the media, on talk shows, and most likely from his boss. No, he didn’t do too well for himself. On top of that, the frustration that was caused by the lack of offense got the better of running back LeGarrette Blount, who then let his thug-like personality take over after the game when he, in short order, punched out a Boise State player, punched one of his own teammates, got into a shoving match with a Boise State assistant coach, argued with an Oregon assistant coach, got into a shouting match with Boise fans, had to be restrained as he was in the process of climbing into the stands to attack one of them, and had to be dragged to the locker room as he was using best efforts to fight off police and security personnel.

The end result was a suspension for the rest of the season – well-deserved, but at the same time leaving the Ducks minus running back who topped 1000 yards for them last season, which puts them possibly behind the eight-ball as far as the NCAA football betting this week. Things are thin at that position, and although Jeremiah Masoli supplies more than his share of legwork, he also makes some bad decisions with the football. Certainly this is far from a well-oiled machine at the moment.

Danny Hope took over as a "coach-in-waiting" after Joe Tiller retired from Purdue at the end of last season. He had a tall order, because productive quarterback Curtis Painter, who made the cut with the Indianapolis Colts, and running back Kory Sheets, who is on the San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad, left the program.

The Boilermakers were not playing a strong opponent last week (Toledo) but they did look in sync in their first effort under Hope, rolling to a 52-31 win, covering a spread of 10 points in the NCAA football odds, and highlighted by some strong performances, not the least of which was a 59-yard field goal by Carson Wiggs.

Last year’s game was what they call a "barn burner." Purdue got off to a 20-6 halftime lead in West Lafayette, then blew it when they gave up a punt return TD and another touchdown by Blount, and went on to lose 32-26 in overtime (still winning in the NCAA football odds, though). Painter threw 50 passes. Sheets had 180 yards. They are gone, but if Ralph Bolden’s first game out of the box was any indication, he’ll do just fine in place of Sheets.

The sophomore, who logged some playing time last season, ran for more yardage than anyone in Division I, with 234 yards against Toledo, and there is little doubt that Purdue has found a guy it can "go to." Joey Elliott, who was not the first choice at quarterback (Justin Siller got thrown out of school) tossed three TD passes in the game and had 220 yards overall.

I’m not sure what I’m going to see from either of these squads this week, but I do know that Oregon has a lot they have to show me, and will be without Blount, which makes it harder to find offense. I’ll grab the points with Purdue, the 12-point underdog in the BetOnline NCAA football odds.

JAY’S PLAY: PURDUE +12 *

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)