With a key Top 25 matchup in the Pac 12 as well as other important games, what are the best bets on the board?
With a key Top 25 matchup in the Pac 12 as well as other important games, what are the best bets on the board?
The Pac-12 Conference moves into Week 11 with its top teams on a collision course at the end of the season. Oregon, USC, UCLA and Utah are battling for the Pac-12 title. Those four teams will play each other – USC against UCLA, Oregon against Utah – on November 19. This is the last weekend in which those teams could stumble before those big games one week from now. Will any of them lose and spoil November 19? We’ll soon find out.
Odds: Oregon -13.5
The Oregon Ducks have simply been sensational on offense ever since their terrible Week 1 showing against Georgia, in which they scored only three points. Oregon quarterback Bo Nix has been putting up video-game-style numbers and shows no signs of slowing down. What has to excite him and Oregon fans even more is the fact that Washington’s road games this year have been very unimpressive.
Washington has allowed 45 at Arizona State and 40 at UCLA. The Huskies barely beat a bad Cal team on the road. Washington is not a good road team, and its defense has been bad in road games this season. It's a situation tailor-made for Nix and Oregon to run wild and put up huge numbers. Oregon won’t just win; it will dominate. The Huskies just don’t have the depth or quality on defense to hang with the Ducks, particularly in their secondary, where Washington is very young and inexperienced.
Odds: UCLA -19.5
This is a very fun matchup. UCLA should probably win, but there should be a lot of points scored. UCLA does not have a great defense, or even a very good one. Arizona scored 37 points against USC earlier this season, 39 against Washington, 31 against Cal, 43 versus Colorado, and 38 against San Diego State. The Wildcats have a lot of high-quality receivers such as Tetaroia McMillan, Dorian Singer, and Jacob Cowing, who can all make big plays down the field against the UCLA secondary. Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura will put the ball in the air a lot, and Arizona should be able to score its fair share of points.
The problem for the Wildcats is that their defense is horrible. Arizona has allowed 45 or more points in five of its last six games. That’s crazy, but it’s true. The Wildcats simply have no high-impact defensive players. When they go up against high-end offensive talent and good quarterbacks, they get ripped apart. They allowed 45 points to Utah in their most recent game, and they show no real indication of being able to improve against Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Zach Charbonnet, and the rest of a high-octane UCLA offense. The Bruins will score over 50 in this game and roll.
Odds: Utah -24
Stanford is banged up for this game, with four different defensive starters being listed as questionable on the injury report. If even two of those four either can’t play or can’t at least be reasonably effective, the Cardinal simply have no shot against Utah. The Utes are playing their last home game of the season. Fans will be fired up. It’s all pointing Utah’s way.