As we move forward in the Regular NCA FB Season and into week 2 we take a look at the Saturday the 12th of September as the No. 6 Ducks of Oregon are playing at the No. 7 Spartans of Michigan State with the game being played at the Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan with the kick-off scheduled for 8 PM ET.
The opening odds at the SBG sportsbook for those that Bet on College football have the Spartans of Michigan State at -4 with the Over/under at 67, while the Ducks of Oregon are listed as the underdogs at +4 with no early money line available.
This game brings us to top 10 ranked teams in a battle for rank in this new 2015 NCAA FB season. In their 1st game of the season the Ducks who beat the E. Washington Eagles and had another high scoring game 61-42, while the Spartans beat the W. Michigan Broncos in their opening game 37- 24. What we wonder is can the Ducks QB V. Adam complete his task against the strong defense of the Spartans of Michigan State?
For the fans of the Ducks of Oregon your team is still able to produce some big statistics even without QB Mariota, as in their game with E. Washington they were victorious with the 61-42 win at home, while accumulating a total of some 732 yards. Of that total the team rushed for 486 yards and 6 TD’s, as their sophomore R. Freeman scored 3 TD’s and rushed for a total of 182 yards as he averaged 8.5 yards on each carry.
The Ducks new QB V. Adams who is following a tough act after QB Mariota, but made a great start as the Ducks starting QB as he passed for 2 TD’s through the air on 256 yards passing, and rushed for some 94 yards in that 1st opening game.
However, the Ducks confronted a problem on defense as they were unable to hold back the E. Washington Eagles offense, and more so the Eagles passing offense. The 42 points that the Ducks surrendered to the Eagles was the most points since the 37 they allowed in 2013 to Washington State. Since they were 35 point favorites over the Eagles, it was impossible for Oregon to cover the spread in the game.
It has been a long time since the Ducks have served as underdogs, but in this game against the Spartans in East Lansing, they are the underdogs at + 4. The Ducks in their last 20 games on the road have performed well with 17 wins and 3 losses, and 15 and 5 against the spread on the road. But, we must remember that the majority of those games, the QB were Mariota the 2014 Heisman winner.
Then the fans of the Spartans of Michigan State know their team won its opening season game on the road as they beat Western Michigan by the score of 37-24, but they could not cover the 16 point spread in the game. Their QB C. Cook was not at his bet as he completed only 15 of his 31 attempts for 2 TD’s and 255 yards. However, they did show their strength at times both on offense and defense as well.
The defensive line of the Spartans devastated the Western Michigan Broncos QB Z. Terrell as they sacked him some 7 times, and held the Bronco to just 18 yards rushing in total. On offense the Spartans succeeded in opening running lanes for their rookie RB duo of M. Landon and L. Scott who combined for 26 carries and 136 rushing yards, and RB Landon scored 2 of the Spartans 3 rushing TD’s in the game.
Spartans receiver A. Burbridge had 117 yards on pass completions with 1 catch going for 57 yards. Thus, QB Cook will challenge the Duck’s secondary as the Spartans have the offensive weapons to gain on the Ducks defensive deficiencies in this upcoming game. Cook last season in the Spartans loss to Oregon passed for 344 yards and 2 TD’s. In the Spartans last 15 games at home they have 14 wins and 1 loss and are 9 and 6 against the spread in that same period.
The prediction for this game is that the Spartans of MSU will beat the Ducks of Oregon on both offense and defense and will win this home game 28 to 20 over the Ducks.