{"id":17068,"date":"2011-08-12T12:20:18","date_gmt":"2011-08-12T17:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=17068"},"modified":"2011-08-12T12:17:56","modified_gmt":"2011-08-12T17:17:56","slug":"2011-oregon-ducks-college-football-betting-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2011-oregon-ducks-college-football-betting-preview-17068\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Oregon Ducks College Football Betting Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Oregon Ducks<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>2010 record:\u00a0 12-1 overall, 9-0 conference<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>2010 Bowl Game: 22-19 loss vs Auburn in BCS Championship<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>2010 ATS:\u00a0 7-5-1<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>2010 O\/U:\u00a0 8-5<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Returning starters:\u00a0 12 total (7 on offense, 5 on defense)<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5044\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5044\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/LaMichael-James-oregon-21.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5044\" src=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/LaMichael-James-oregon-21-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"Oregon Ducks Running Back LaMichael James\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/LaMichael-James-oregon-21-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/LaMichael-James-oregon-21.jpg 495w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5044\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oregon Ducks RB LaMichael James led the nation in rushing yards last year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 The college football handicappers at Maddux Sports are also preparing and have season-long packages readily available for clients.\u00a0 Let\u2019s head to Eugene and take a look at the two-time defending Pac-10 champions.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Offense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Oregon possesses one of the most potent offensive attacks in the nation, leading all teams with 47 points a game last year and 530.7 yards in total offense.\u00a0 Head coach Chip Kelly loves a high-tempo game, as the team posted those numbers in just 27:54 a contest.<\/p>\n<p>Junior quarterback Darron Thomas is a dual-threat in the huddle and is coming off a tremendous year, throwing for 2,881 yards and 30 touchdowns, while also gaining 485 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>He displayed his talents to the entire nation in a losing effort against Auburn, throwing for 363 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>LaMichael James is once again a Heisman Trophy candidate after leading the nation with 1,731 rushing yards in 2010.\u00a0 He finished third in last year\u2019s balloting and will undoubtedly become the school\u2019s all-time leading rusher.<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s a weakness on this unit, it can be found in the wide receiving corps, as the departures of Jeff Maehl and D.J. Davis leave a gaping hole of production.\u00a0 The two combined for 119 catches and 1,546 yards last year.<\/p>\n<p>Oregon also lost three starters from an offensive front that allowed just nine sacks last year and led the team the country\u2019s top rushing attack.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Defense<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Ducks lose six starters from a unit that was surprisingly strong in allowing just 18.7 points a contest, which was good for 12th nationally.\u00a0 Oregon allowed just 4.7 yards per play in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Many around camp are excited about the defensive line despite losing three key players.\u00a0 Sophomore Ricky Heimuli was one of two true freshmen to play in every game for Oregon last year.<\/p>\n<p>Depth is always a concern in Eugene due to the frantic pace that the offense plays with.\u00a0 \u00a0 The Ducks will need to address these issues in the linebacking core and secondary, as the season kicks off in a big way versus LSU on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n<p>Playmakers are definitely found in the secondary, led by junior cornerback Cliff Harris, who comes in after leading the conference with six interceptions.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Special Teams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Junior Rob Beard returns after connecting on 10-of-13 field goals a year ago, while drilling home an amazing 63-of-64 PATs.<\/p>\n<p>Punter Jackson Rice averaged 42.3 yards on 40 punts and was great in pinning back opponents, as 18 of those were downed inside the 20-yard line.<\/p>\n<p>The return game is a major weapon and has some dynamic playmakers, including Cliff Harris on punts and Kenjon Barner on kickoff returns.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Against the Spread<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Oregon has compiled a 22-4 SU record under Kelly in two years, but is just 13-12 ATS. \u00a0Watch the college football lines page closely all season long.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Bet On<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Ducks have been a consistent moneymaker as home favorites, coming away with a 14-9 ATS mark at Autzen Stadium over the last four campaigns.\u00a0 Oregon\u2019s first shot comes in hosting Nevada on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Fade Away<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Facing Arizona has been a stiff challenge against the number, coming into the 2011 campaign with a 1-5 ATS record in the last six meetings, including failures in the last three trips to Tucson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oregon Ducks 2010 record:\u00a0 12-1 overall, 9-0 conference 2010 Bowl Game: 22-19 loss vs Auburn in BCS Championship 2010 ATS:\u00a0 7-5-1 2010 O\/U:\u00a0 8-5 Returning starters:\u00a0 12 total (7 on offense, 5 on defense) Over the month of August, our team of writers will be previewing the top teams heading into an exciting 2011 campaign.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":5044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[3242,1122,2267,3713,457],"class_list":["post-17068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-autzen-stadium","tag-chip-kelly","tag-darron-thomas","tag-lamichael-james","tag-oregon-ducks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17068"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17069,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17068\/revisions\/17069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}