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The Oregon-Arizona betting line had the Ducks posted at -15.5 at Sportsbook.com.
No. 10 Oregon plays its first true road game of the season when it visits an Arizona team that has been outscored by 50 points during its two-game losing skid.
Arizona gave Oregon a relative scare a year ago, leading 19-14 in Eugene a year ago before the Ducks pulled away with a 48-29 win. Since getting tripped up in their opener against LSU, the Ducks have rolled up 600-plus yards of offense and 55-plus points each of the past two weeks (against Nevada and Missouri State). Arizona has looked helpless against back-to-back, Top-10 opponents, getting outscored 74-24 by Oklahoma State and Stanford (the latter at home). Oregon has topped 40 points in eight of its past nine road games, and is riding a 12-game conference win streak.
Oregon RB LaMichael James started the season slow, with only 121 rushing yards in his first two games, but he exploded against Missouri State with 204 yards and three touchdowns on only a dozen carries (17.0 YPC). In two career games against the Wildcats, James has 243 rushing yards (5.2 YPC) and two scores. QB Darron Thomas had a woeful 4.4 yards per attempt in the season-opening loss to LSU, but in the past two weeks, he has thrown for 14.7 yards per attempt with nine touchdowns and zero picks. Thomas had four TD (3 passing, 1 rushing) in last year’s win over Arizona. Oregon has a full injury report with five players all questionable for Saturday’s game: RB Kenjon Barner (ankle), WR Josh Huff (ankle), TE Curtis White (shoulder), K Rob Beard (illness) and LB Michael Clay (ankle). The Ducks defense has improved greatly since allowing 40 points to LSU in Week 1. They currently rank 10th in the country in passing defense, giving up only 145 YPG.
Despite the brutal schedule, Wildcats QB Nick Foles is third in the nation with 1,049 passing yards to go along with seven touchdowns and no picks. He has thrown a school-record 143 straight passes without an interception. Foles had a ridiculous day at Oregon last year, completing 29-of-54 passes for 448 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT. Foles would prefer if his team had a rushing attack that kept defenses from coming after him. Arizona has 55.7 rushing yards per game (fifth-worst in FBS) and is averaging a woeful 2.6 YPC. The defense has also been a sieve, ranking 111th among the 120 FBS schools in both total defense (473 YPG) and passing yardage (300 YPG).
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
