Oregon vs. UCLA Spread Prediction
The Oregon Ducks took it on the chin the last two weeks but they’ll return home Saturday night to face an improved UCLA team, but one that is also just 2-6 on the season. Will Chip Kelly lead the Bruins to at least a cover against his former team or will the Ducks roll as a double-digit favorite?
Game Snapshot
381 UCLA Bruins at 382 Oregon Ducks
7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, November 3, 2018
Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Ducks are 10-point favorites to beat the Bruins. The total, meanwhile, sits at 62.5 points. As of this writing, 75% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Ducks.
Oregon Ducks
Oregon junior QB Justin Herbert has cleared concussion protocol ahead of Saturday’s game against UCLA. That said, Ducks HC Mario Cristobal hasn’t yet pulled the trigger on officially declaring him the starting quarterback for this Saturday against the Bruins. Herbert, college football’s best quarterback prospect, returned to practice Wednesday after sitting out earlier this week following the head injury he sustained against Arizona over the weekend. “It was a good day, but we still evaluate every single piece of it,” Cristobal said. “There is always the medical part first, you do it the right way. You do it like it is your own son and make sure the medical part is taken care of. Then after that, you make sure about everything else, how he feels with everything.” If Herbert can’t ultimately go, Braxton Burmeister will make his first start of the year.
UCLA Bruins
UCLA redshirt senior QB Wilton Speight practiced with the starters on Wednesday. Speight drew the start last Friday against Utah with Dorian Thompson-Robinson injured. Thompson-Robinson returned to practice Tuesday, so it’s interesting that Speight is still practicing with the starters after his brutal showing against the Utes. Perhaps that’s a sign that DTR isn’t fully mended. Chip Kelly is notoriously typed lipped about these types of things, so we’re not expecting clarification over the next 48 hours.
Betting Trends
UCLA
The Bruins are 5-11 against the spread in their last 16 conference games and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
Oregon
The Ducks are 1-8 against the number in their last nine games versus an opponent with a losing record and are 2-7 ATS in their last nine games overall.
Prediction
None of the current Oregon players were brought in by Kelly so don’t buy the narrative that the Ducks will be extra motivated to beat the Bruins tonight. And while Oregon has a more talented and experienced team, I can’t get past the Ducks’ last two teams. They were thoroughly beaten in Pullman by Washington State and then the wheels really fell off a week ago in Arizona against Kahlil Tate and Co. In those two games, Oregon lost by an average of 21.5 points. The spread in this game has already dropped from 13 to 10 so while some value was sucked out of UCLA, I still like the Bruins to hang.
College Football Prediction: UCLA Bruins +10