Ducks vs Wildcats NCAA Football Spread/Handicapping
If you’re looking for a match-up that showcases the modern incarnation of the college game, you needn’t look any further than the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. This BCS clash pits two high-octane offenses and two Heisman candidates against each other.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
Oregon Ducks (11-1) vs. Kansas State Wildcats (11-1)
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013,
University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale AZ
Betting Information Courtesy of Sportsbook.ag
Oregon -330, Kansas State +270
Oregon -9, Kansas State +9
Over/Under: 75.5
ATS Matchup Stats | Gambling Insight!
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Oregon RB Kenjon Barner and Kansas State pivot Collin Klein will lead their prolific offenses in the desert on January 3. These players were dominant throughout the season for different reasons; Barner showcases blazing speed – he racked up 1,624 yards and 22 TDs to his name, including an unfathomable 321 yard, five-TD performance versus USC – while Klein uses his battering-ram dual threat skills to bring Kansas State back to national relevance.
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Oregon’s modus operandi has been speed from the get-go. In addition to Barner, freshman QB Marcus Mariota is an electric athlete and RB DeAnthony Thomas provides some nice depth. The Wildcats have been all about Klein and RB John Hubert, who finished with 890 yards and 15 majors.
Until recently, this could have been a preview of the National Championship game. Both programs were unbeaten and, after an Alabama loss to a Johnny Football-led Texas A&M, looked slated to play in Miami. But Oregon suffered an OT loss to Stanford in the second-last week of the regular season and K-State lost a shootout to Baylor in the same week. As a result, the Fiesta Bowl should be an epic showdown.
Klein offers a Tim Tebow-esque level of passing adequacy with scrambling wonder and it’s a skill-set that has been effective against virtually every opponent in 2012. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Yet, the Ducks really bring game-changing speed to the table. The Stanford loss was brutally close and seemed like an aberration. Up until that point, Oregon had been blowing opponents out of the water. While the Wildcats averaged 40.7 points per game for the season, they have been stymied somewhat to finish the season.
That needs to be a telling statistic as far as the Ducks are considered, because Oregon is susceptible to getting gouged on the ground (giving up an average of nearly 190 yards per).
If Oregon gets its fast-paced offensive attack going early, it will be hard for Kansas State to keep up. The Wildcats will need to match Oregon score-for-score and cannot afford to get too far behind; with the exception of the Stanford game, Oregon has been able to assert its will offensively all season long.
Consequently, Oregon head coach Chip Kelly is a surefire NFL head coaching candidate in a sport that is rapidly turning into a high-scoring entertainment vehicle reminiscent of basketball. But I digress.
Klein is a special individual and a top-shelf college talent, for sure, but K-State has yielded 76 points in its last two games.
Oregon’s offense is more dangerous offensively than Baylor or Texas (the Wildcats’ last two opponents), so the Wildcats must get that trend turned around in a hurry if they want to leave Phoenix as Fiesta Bowl champs.
Score Prediction: Oregon 45, Kansas State 35
