College Football: Predicting the Final Score For Oregon vs. Washington State

The No. 2 Oregon Ducks will take on the Washington State Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 10:30 on ESPN. The Cougars are 1-2 after losing to Rutgers and Nevada and beating Portland State. The Ducks and their high-powered offense are an undefeated 3-0 with wins over South Dakota, Michigan State and Wyoming.

On Monday Oregon opened as 19.5-point favorites, but by Wednesday the line had moved to 23.5 points. In their last 13 conference road games Oregon is 11-2 against the spread, but in their last four contests against Washington State they are 0-4 against the spread. Something will have to give on Saturday, but what will that be?

Oregon is averaging 52 points this season, including putting up 46 points against Michigan State, a team with a tough defense that many picked to reach the four-team playoff before the season began. Against the Spartans, the Ducks proved once again their offense hasn’t missed a beat under head coach Mark Helfrich as they put up 491 yards. They have one of the best, if not the best QB in the country in Marcus Mariota, who is doing his best to make a statement that he deserves to win the Heisman this season. The dual-threat QB has thrown for 806 yards, eight TDs and no interceptions this season.

In 2013 the Cougars went to their first bowl game in 10 years under head coach Mike Leach. Their passing game has looked good as they lead the nation in passing yards this season, but QB Connor Halliday has been doing his best Tony Romo impression, throwing five interceptions so far. The Cougars’ defense is in flux and has also struggled this season.

Normally the Cougars wouldn’t mind getting into a shootout, but they’ll fail against Oregon with that mentality. Oregon’s defense is better (allowing 18 PPG) than Washington State’s (allowing 28.7 PPG), and the Ducks’ offense is definitely better than the Cougars. Oregon certainly isn’t perfect, although they might be the best team in the nation in a season where no team has really grabbed the reigns as the clear favorite, but they won’t have an issue against the Washington State. The Ducks go to 4-0 and start 1-0 in conference play.

Prediction: Oregon 51, Washington State 17

Justin Patrick is a New England Patriots writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @calling_allfans, like him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.