Pac 10 Championship Game Utah vs Oregon Free Pick
This years Pac-10 championship game looks very promising. You have two very good teams. Oregon (10-2) who is always in the mix when it comes time for championship week. And Utah (11-1), a great team every year that somehow folds before it gets to the big game. Sportsbooks have Utah -6.5 and the total is set at just 47 points.
Oregon is ranked #13 and Utah #5 in the latest College football payoff ranking. If Utah wins this game and Georgia falls to LSU, then Utah will be in the final four championship series for the first time ever.
In the words of Lee Corso “Not so fast.” There is a part of me that is thinking that the Utah collapse is just running a little later than usual this year and that this is the game they fall apart. There is no doubt this team is very good however. They are 9-3 against the spread, which usually signifies that they have been better than the public (and Vegas) have though they were. They average 35 PPG on offense and allow just 11 PPG. In fact, their defense is what makes them so scary for opponents.
Looking at Utah’s schedule, they are far from invulnerable. They lost in week three at USC (who just fired their head coach last week) and they almost lost at Washington in week 9, winning by only 5 points.
Oregon lost to two teams this year. They lost the season opener against Auburn (which they lead the entire way before collapsing at the very end). And they lost at Arizona State, a Herm Edwards coached team which had some big wins of its own. Oregon has an NFL prospect at QB. He has shown flashes of brilliance. Justin Herbert has throw for 31 TDs and just 5 picks.
Head to head Oregon leads 7-3 straight up in their last 10 meetings. They are 5-5 ATS. I think that Oregon’s QB is good enough to score a few TD’s on Utah and Utah’s offense may struggle some again Oregon. The Ducks allow only 15 PPG. I think that perhaps this stage is too big for Utah and the collapse may be imminent. There may be a play here for an Oregon straight up win (+200). But, I definitely like them getting 6.5 points. You can bet this pick at any one of the sportsbooks deemed worthy of use by SBA.