NCAAF Spread Blow Out Alert – New Mexico vs Oregon

The 11th ranked Oregon Ducks get a much-anticipated 2010 campaign underway this Saturday as they play host to the New Mexico Lobos with the NCAAF Spread favoring the Ducks by 35 points. The Ducks are once again stacked but will have the entire Pac-10 gunning for them, it’s going to be interesting to see how they handle being the champs.

New Mexico Lobos vs. Oregon Ducks

(Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon)
Saturday September 4th at 3:30 PM ET

NCAAF Spread:
New Mexico – PS +35 (-115)
Oregon – PS -35 (-110)
Total – 55

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Oregon is fresh off their first Pac-10 title since 1994, and although Chip Kelly took over a very good football team, he turned them into winners. They did end their season on a sour note though as they lost the Rose Bowl to the Ohio State Buckeyes, a game that many people had the Ducks winning both straight up and against the NCAAF Spread.

Now that they’re the team to beat, expectations are even higher in Eugene. But Oregon is fine with that, as they should only get better this season as they return all kinds of talent on both sides of the ball. But they do enter this year without their starting quarterback from last season, not because of graduation, but because he was thrown off the team.

Jeremiah Masoli would have been considered a Heisman Trophy candidate entering the 2010 campaign, but he was involved in a theft at a campus fraternity house in late January and that was the end of his career in Oregon. It’s a shame really because with Masoli, the Ducks may have covered ever NCAAF Spread this year. But it’s a new day and it has opened the door for sophomore Darron Thomas, who beat out senior Nate Costa for the starting job.

He is a very athletic guy who red-shirted last season after getting a limited amount of action in 2008, and apparently made the improvements to beat Costa. He’ll have a serious group of talent around him as LaMichael James returns after rushing for a Pac-10 freshman record of 1,546 yards as well as 14 touchdowns. He’s not going to suit up Saturday as he’s been suspended for a game, but Kenjon Barner is more than capable of getting it done.  He didn’t get as many touches as Barner, but when he did he made the most of it, averaging 6.0 yards per carry.

New Mexico will have a tough time slowing this team down, but they shouldn’t read into the results on Saturday too much as they are badly outmatched. They are just hoping to improve on a tough 2009 season in which they finished 1-11 under first year coach Mike Locksley. The Lobos are likely to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West Conference again, but if they can play Oregon tough, it might give them some confidence that they can parlay into a few more wins this year. But when making our NCAAF Game Spread Predictions, it’s hard to believe that they are going to be able to even keep this even close to the listed spread.

Oregon is just too strong and will look to send a message to the rest of the league, unfortunately for the Lobos, it will come at their expense.

NCAAF Spread Picks:  Oregon -35