UCLA at Oregon -24 O/U 61.5
Since taking over at UCLA in 2008, Rick Neuheisel’s teams have been one of the strongest under teams in the country when it comes to conference play. Heading into Thursday’s game against Oregon, the Bruins have gone under the total in 17 of their 21 PAC-10 games. The highest closing total in that 21-game stretch was 55 in 2008’s meeting against Oregon. Of those 21 games, only seven saw totals of 50 or above, yet Thursday’s contest is currently lined at 61.5.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Oregon has been an over machine over the last two years under head coach Chip Kelly with nine of the team’s last 12 PAC-10 games landing over the total.
The trend provides and interesting handicap for Thursday. On one hand you have Oregon, who at home, is an automatic 40 points or more. But UCLA is likely going to need to score some points in order to get this one over the total – against Cal and Stanford, they produced only one touchdown. It also doesn’t help that Bruin quarterback
Kevin Prince has been unable to practice with an injured knee. But that could be offset by the fact that
three defensive starters for Oregon may not play. The Ducks are a much better defensive team than what the stats show but with a big lead, followed by garbage time; it could provide the Bruins with enough opportunities to push across a couple meaningless scores.
