College Football Betting – (2) Ducks Meet Beavers in “Civil War”

(2) Oregon Ducks (-19.5, 74 o/u) at Oregon State Beavers

The No. 2 Oregon Ducks (10-1, 7-1 Pac-12) play in-state rival Oregon State Beavers (5-6, 2-6 Pac-12) in Corvallis on Saturday.

Heading into the game, all the talk is about whether Heisman frontrunner Marcus Mariota will return to Eugene for his senior season next year.

“We’ll see what else the future entails, I’m not too sure,” said the Ducks QB.

The Ducks signal caller put on quite a show last week, throwing four TDs against the Colorado Buffaloes and claiming the Pac-12 single-season record for total touchdowns in the process. The wonder that is Marcus Mariota is not lost on those closest to him, even though they have watched him perform at a high level for three years.

Said Oregon coach Mark Helfrich, “Somebody was talking to me the other day about how easy he makes it look sometimes. What he’s doing is really difficult. His decision making, competitiveness, his command of the team is so outstanding. It’s great to be around him because he makes you want to work harder as a coach. The other guys feed off of him.”

Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre agreed. “I don’t care what anybody says because he’s the best quarterback in the nation,” said MacIntyre. “When you have the best quarterback with the talent they’ve got and the defense, they’ve got a chance to be really, really good. I hope they go win it all.”

So far, all the Ducks have won is the Pac-12 North. They will face the winner of the hotly contested South division in the Pac-12 Championship game.

As for the Beavers, it’s been an up-and-down year for the team, though mostly down. Last week, the Beavers lost at Washington, 37-13, dropping their conference record to 2-6. However, the week before, they ended the national title hopes of Arizona State, handing the Sun Devils a 35-27 loss, just their second of the year.

The Ducks know first-hand that beneath the Beavers mediocre record lies a dangerous team. In last year’s Civil War, the Ducks nearly lost to a 6-5 Beavers team in Eugene (36-35).

Mariota said, “The Civil War’s always a big game. We always talk about taking one game at a time. But we understand it’s a huge part of this community and a huge part of this state. To play in it, it’s truly special.”

That said, Oregon has won six straight in dominant fashion. Look for the Ducks to cover (-19.5) on Saturday.

(Photo credit: Daniel Hartwig (Flickr: DSCN4364) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo may appear cropped from its original.)