OREGON vs. ARIZONA ? October 22nd, 7:00 PM EDT
Arizona HC Mike Stoops was given much of the credit for the outstanding defensive play of Oklahoma during his tenure there as defensive coordinator under his brother Bob. That praise appears to have been well founded as his absence from Norman has surely been felt in a year when teams are seemingly scoring at will against the Sooners. There were high hopes from the Wildcat alumni that Stoops arrival in Tucson would be the catalyst that this team needed to turn the corner toward a successful program but a coach can not play the games by himself and the Zona players simply do not appear to have what it takes to be competitive in the Pac 10.
The Cats are 1-5 on the season with their only win coming against Northern Arizona who is 2-4 and plays in the Division 1AA Big Sky conference. Arizona lost its fourth straight game last week, 20-16 at home to Stanford and ranks 111th nationally in rushing offense (85 yards) and 96th in total offense (309 yards) and in scoring offense (19.3 points). Despite their woes, Stoops has remained positive and swears that this team will turn things around before the season is over. That might include benching sophomore QB Richard Kovalcheck this week in favor of redshirt freshman Willie Tuitama who gained nationwide attention in high school. While Kovalcheck has passed for 1,304 yards and ten touchdowns, he has also thrown up ten interceptions and has basically lost the confidence of his teammates. Changing quarterbacks may or may not help jump start this anemic offense but unless the offensive line can begin to provide sufficient protection or open up few holes for the backs, I wouldn?t count on any overnight miracles.
Count me among those who did not see Oregon as providing much of a threat in the Pac 10 this season but after seven games of solid play by this team, I have realized that they can flat out play football. In their game against Southern Cal four weeks ago, the Ducks got out to a 13 point lead and actually went into the locker room at halftime up 13-10 before the Trojans turned on the afterburners in the 2nd half while holding Oregon scoreless the rest of the way. Despite that 13 point performance, Oregon is averaging 36.4 points per game and has beaten Fresno State and Arizona State in route to a 5-1 record so far this season. In all three of their road games, they have come away winning by at least 14 points and are an amazing 9-1 in their last 10 games away from Eugene. The Ducks have covered 8 of the past 10 games against Zona including a 28-14 victory last year in a game where QB Clemens completed 21 of 30 passes for 336 yards. I expect more of the same on in this one as Oregon's 340 passing yards per game ranks 5th in the nation this year. By the way, rather that get down on themselves after the 2nd half thrashing they took from USC, the Ducks have beaten the last three teams they have faced by a combined 62 points.
The line for this game opened at 8 and has been bet up to 11 in some places but I snagged it at 9 on Monday. For the purpose of this play, I say that the 10.5 available at several books is well within the margin of victory as Oregon may beat this Zona team by three touchdowns.
The Verdict: OREGON (-10.5)
TEXAS TECH vs. TEXAS ? October 22nd, 7:00 PM EDT
This week, two undefeated, Top 10 teams from the Big 12 South meet and most years that would mean Texas and Oklahoma, but this season Oklahoma is having a down year and it is the Texas Tech Red Raiders who have found themselves being mentioned among the elite teams in the country.
A look at the Red Raiders? offensive numbers is enough to generate some real concern for the boys from Austin as Tech HC Mike Leach continues to produce the best passing game in the nation year after year. Cody Hodges is the latest in an impressive string of Texas Tech quarterbacks that have put up ridiculous aerial yardage on virtually every defense that takes the field with them. Last week against Kansas State, Hodges capped of the first half of the season by passing for a mind boggling 643 yards before Leach actually took him out of the game. On the season, he has an amazing 2,461 yards passing in six games and only Kansas and Nebraska have had any luck slowing down this scoring machine which is averaging almost 54 points per game.
If you are thinking that Tech?s offense sounds like they are unstoppable, take a look at the Texas defense that they will be facing on Saturday. Only Ohio State was able to score more than 17 points on the Longhorns who are allowing an average of exactly 14 points per game and no quarterback has passed for more than 182 yards against the Texas secondary this season. That?s right, not Troy Smith, not Brad Smith and not Joel Klatt either. In fact, teams are averaging only 127.5 passing yards per game against Texas and the Longhorns have held every opponent they have faced this year to a season low yardage mark.
Texas is averaging over 45 points per game themselves and that includes their 25-22 win over Ohio State which was the only game this season in which Vince Young played more than one series in the 4th quarter. Prior to last week?s game in which the Horns went with an all out passing game plan, Texas had the No. 2 ranked rushing game in the nation. Vince Young has now passed for 1,357 yards and 12 touchdowns and has run for 413 yards at 5.5 yards per carry and five more touchdowns. The offensive line is the best in Texas? history and has opened holes for a stable of running backs who have collectively rushed for over 1,600 yards. Last year, Texas went to Lubbock as 1 point underdogs and dominated with 351 yards rushing on 71 carries in a 51-21 rout.
Texas Tech?s defense has now allowed 21, 17, 31 and 20 points to Sam Houston State, Kansas, Nebraska and Kansas State respectively while they were able to shut down Florida International and Indiana State by holding them to 3 and 7 points. The 21 points scored by Sam Houston were the most scored all season by this Division 2A school, Kansas has now scored 3 points in each of their last two games, Nebraska?s 31 points were the most the Cornhuskers have put up this year and Kansas State scored just below their average for the season with the majority of their games so far being against a string of cupcakes.
The Longhorns have their sights clearly set on meeting USC in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship game and Tech is the only real obstacle left in their way of realizing that goal so I expect an all out effort. This will be only the second road game for Tech this season and in the other, it took a touchdown in the final 12 seconds of the game for a come from behind win over Nebraska. I see no reason the result from last year?s match-up between these two should be any different this Saturday as these are essentially the same teams from 2004 except Texas is better than last year on both sides of the ball. Oh yeah, don?t forget that this game is being played in Austin where Mack Brown?s teams are a combined 10-0 SU and 7-3 ATS since 2004 which cements what is a rare play on Texas by me.
The Verdict: TEXAS (-15)
Arizona HC Mike Stoops was given much of the credit for the outstanding defensive play of Oklahoma during his tenure there as defensive coordinator under his brother Bob. That praise appears to have been well founded as his absence from Norman has surely been felt in a year when teams are seemingly scoring at will against the Sooners. There were high hopes from the Wildcat alumni that Stoops arrival in Tucson would be the catalyst that this team needed to turn the corner toward a successful program but a coach can not play the games by himself and the Zona players simply do not appear to have what it takes to be competitive in the Pac 10.
The Cats are 1-5 on the season with their only win coming against Northern Arizona who is 2-4 and plays in the Division 1AA Big Sky conference. Arizona lost its fourth straight game last week, 20-16 at home to Stanford and ranks 111th nationally in rushing offense (85 yards) and 96th in total offense (309 yards) and in scoring offense (19.3 points). Despite their woes, Stoops has remained positive and swears that this team will turn things around before the season is over. That might include benching sophomore QB Richard Kovalcheck this week in favor of redshirt freshman Willie Tuitama who gained nationwide attention in high school. While Kovalcheck has passed for 1,304 yards and ten touchdowns, he has also thrown up ten interceptions and has basically lost the confidence of his teammates. Changing quarterbacks may or may not help jump start this anemic offense but unless the offensive line can begin to provide sufficient protection or open up few holes for the backs, I wouldn?t count on any overnight miracles.
Count me among those who did not see Oregon as providing much of a threat in the Pac 10 this season but after seven games of solid play by this team, I have realized that they can flat out play football. In their game against Southern Cal four weeks ago, the Ducks got out to a 13 point lead and actually went into the locker room at halftime up 13-10 before the Trojans turned on the afterburners in the 2nd half while holding Oregon scoreless the rest of the way. Despite that 13 point performance, Oregon is averaging 36.4 points per game and has beaten Fresno State and Arizona State in route to a 5-1 record so far this season. In all three of their road games, they have come away winning by at least 14 points and are an amazing 9-1 in their last 10 games away from Eugene. The Ducks have covered 8 of the past 10 games against Zona including a 28-14 victory last year in a game where QB Clemens completed 21 of 30 passes for 336 yards. I expect more of the same on in this one as Oregon's 340 passing yards per game ranks 5th in the nation this year. By the way, rather that get down on themselves after the 2nd half thrashing they took from USC, the Ducks have beaten the last three teams they have faced by a combined 62 points.
The line for this game opened at 8 and has been bet up to 11 in some places but I snagged it at 9 on Monday. For the purpose of this play, I say that the 10.5 available at several books is well within the margin of victory as Oregon may beat this Zona team by three touchdowns.
The Verdict: OREGON (-10.5)
TEXAS TECH vs. TEXAS ? October 22nd, 7:00 PM EDT
This week, two undefeated, Top 10 teams from the Big 12 South meet and most years that would mean Texas and Oklahoma, but this season Oklahoma is having a down year and it is the Texas Tech Red Raiders who have found themselves being mentioned among the elite teams in the country.
A look at the Red Raiders? offensive numbers is enough to generate some real concern for the boys from Austin as Tech HC Mike Leach continues to produce the best passing game in the nation year after year. Cody Hodges is the latest in an impressive string of Texas Tech quarterbacks that have put up ridiculous aerial yardage on virtually every defense that takes the field with them. Last week against Kansas State, Hodges capped of the first half of the season by passing for a mind boggling 643 yards before Leach actually took him out of the game. On the season, he has an amazing 2,461 yards passing in six games and only Kansas and Nebraska have had any luck slowing down this scoring machine which is averaging almost 54 points per game.
If you are thinking that Tech?s offense sounds like they are unstoppable, take a look at the Texas defense that they will be facing on Saturday. Only Ohio State was able to score more than 17 points on the Longhorns who are allowing an average of exactly 14 points per game and no quarterback has passed for more than 182 yards against the Texas secondary this season. That?s right, not Troy Smith, not Brad Smith and not Joel Klatt either. In fact, teams are averaging only 127.5 passing yards per game against Texas and the Longhorns have held every opponent they have faced this year to a season low yardage mark.
Texas is averaging over 45 points per game themselves and that includes their 25-22 win over Ohio State which was the only game this season in which Vince Young played more than one series in the 4th quarter. Prior to last week?s game in which the Horns went with an all out passing game plan, Texas had the No. 2 ranked rushing game in the nation. Vince Young has now passed for 1,357 yards and 12 touchdowns and has run for 413 yards at 5.5 yards per carry and five more touchdowns. The offensive line is the best in Texas? history and has opened holes for a stable of running backs who have collectively rushed for over 1,600 yards. Last year, Texas went to Lubbock as 1 point underdogs and dominated with 351 yards rushing on 71 carries in a 51-21 rout.
Texas Tech?s defense has now allowed 21, 17, 31 and 20 points to Sam Houston State, Kansas, Nebraska and Kansas State respectively while they were able to shut down Florida International and Indiana State by holding them to 3 and 7 points. The 21 points scored by Sam Houston were the most scored all season by this Division 2A school, Kansas has now scored 3 points in each of their last two games, Nebraska?s 31 points were the most the Cornhuskers have put up this year and Kansas State scored just below their average for the season with the majority of their games so far being against a string of cupcakes.
The Longhorns have their sights clearly set on meeting USC in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship game and Tech is the only real obstacle left in their way of realizing that goal so I expect an all out effort. This will be only the second road game for Tech this season and in the other, it took a touchdown in the final 12 seconds of the game for a come from behind win over Nebraska. I see no reason the result from last year?s match-up between these two should be any different this Saturday as these are essentially the same teams from 2004 except Texas is better than last year on both sides of the ball. Oh yeah, don?t forget that this game is being played in Austin where Mack Brown?s teams are a combined 10-0 SU and 7-3 ATS since 2004 which cements what is a rare play on Texas by me.
The Verdict: TEXAS (-15)
