The No. 24 Oregon Ducks welcome the Virginia Cavaliers to Eugene on Saturday, September 10th in a non-conference matchup. In their only previous meeting, the Ducks rolled to a 59-10 victory over the Cavaliers on the road in 2013.
Oregon (1-0) moved into the Top 25 with its 53-28 home victory over UC-Davis last week. The Ducks managed 522 totals yards behind three touchdown passes from Montana State graduate transfer Dakota Prukop.
Virginia (0-1) had one of the worst performances you could imagine for first-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall. The Cavaliers lost 20-37 at home to FCS foe Richmond despite being 11-point favorites in that game.
Kickoff inside Autzen Stadium is scheduled for 10:30 EST Saturday night with ESPN providing the television coverage. If you’re looking to wager on this game, you’ll find a line of Oregon -24.5 over Virginia and a total set of 70.5 points.
The Virginia Cavaliers clearly have all sorts of problems after losing 20-37 at home to Richmond in their opener. This is a team in transition under first-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who had a lot of success at BYU, but it’s clearly going to take some time for him to turn around this program.
It wasn’t just the fact that Virginia lost by 17 points, it was also the fact that it got dominated statistically by Richmond. The Cavaliers only managed 302 total yards on offense and gave up 524 on defense, getting outgained by 222 yards in the loss.
It wasn’t just the fact that Virginia lost by 17 points, it was also the fact that it got dominated statistically by Richmond. The Cavaliers only managed 302 total yards on offense and gave up 524 on defense, getting outgained by 222 yards in the loss.
Oregon keeps on flying high offensively no matter who it inserts at quarterback. The Ducks racked up 522 total yards in their 53-28 win over UC-Davis. New QB Dakota Prukup was 21-of-30 passing for 271 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and the Ducks rushed for 251 yards and 6.8 per carry as a team.
I know Oregon was a 48-point favorite in that game, so the end result being a 25-point win isn’t impressive. However, consider that Oregon was leading 33-7 early in the third quarter and clearly took its foot off the gas. UC Davis scored 21 of its 28 points in the second half when the Ducks were resting starters.
We saw a couple years ago how this high-octane Oregon offense prove to be too much for Virginia. Indeed, the Ducks beat the Cavaliers 59-10 on the road as similar 23-point favorites in 2013. I think we could see a similar result here, especially with how poor the Cavaliers looked against Richmond.
Plays against any team (VIRGINIA) – after gaining 75 or less rushing yards last game against opponent after gaining 6.5 or more rushing yards/attempt last game are 48-19 (71.6%) ATS over the last five seasons.
Oregon is 55-29 ATS in its last 84 games after outrushing its last opponent by 125 or more yards. The Ducks are 13-5 ATS in their last 18 games following a straight up win. Oregon is 28-11-2 ATS in its last 41 games vs. a team with a losing record.