Early Oregon vs Texas Tech Spread, Line & Pick for Orange Bowl

• The Oregon Ducks and Texas Tech Raiders meet in the Orange Bowl on Jan 1
• Oregon dismantled James Madison in Round 1 of the College Football Playoff to advance
• Read below for early Oregon vs Texas Tech odds, prediction and preview

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The final matchup for quarterfinal action in the College Football Playoff is now set, with the Oregon Ducks (12-1) battling the Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-1) in the Orange Bowl.

Texas Tech has enjoyed a bye, and will have had 25 days off between games since toppling BYU in the Big 12 title game on December 6. That’s enough for the books to fade the Red Raiders, pegging them as 1.5-point underdogs in the college football odds.

The Orange Bowl goes on New Year’s Day at 12pm ET from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, with ESPN carrying the broadcast.

See below for the Orange Bowl odds, preview and my early Oregon vs Texas Tech betting prediction.

Oregon vs Texas Tech Odds – Orange Bowl

The Ducks open as 1.5-point favorites, and the margin from favorite to underdog is ever-so-slight on the moneyline, with Oregon getting -115 odds to advance to the semi-finals in the CFP Bracket, while Texas Tech checks in at a short -105.

Over on FanDuel, the Red Raiders have opened as the slight favorites, showing just how evenly oddsmakers are viewing this matchup.

The total is set at 52.5 points — a figure that both teams cruised by with regularity during the season, but one that could be dangerous with the defenses that both schools bring to the field (more on that below).

Odds as of December 20 at 11:30pm ET at DraftKings. Be sure to check out the best FanDuel promo code before placing a bet on any College Football Playoff matchup.

Oregon vs Texas Tech Matchup Preview

There’s plenty of offense that should be on display in Miami on January 1.

Texas Tech is the no. 2 scoring team in the nation, averaging a whopping 42.5 points per game en route to a 12-1 mark, culminating with a win over the 11th-ranked BYU Cougars 34-7 in the conference championship game.

During their nine-game conference slate, the Red Raiders cracked the 30-point plateau eight times, including five 40-point outings. Their only blemish on the season was a 26-22 upset loss at Arizona State.

Texas Tech can bludgeon defenses in any which way, ranking inside the Big 12’s Top 3 in both passing (289.4 yards per game) and rushing (190.9 yards).

Oregon made it really clear, really fast, that they weren’t messing around with James Madison in Round 1, jumping out to a 33-3 lead through just over 25 minutes of game action, en route to a 51-26 romp.

Oregon has plenty of firepower to hang with Texas Tech, as its 38.2 points per game average sits inside the Top 10 in scoring in college football.

The Ducks are powered by a rush attack that churns out 218.4 yards per game (2nd in Big Ten), and they’re supported by a passing game that ranks sixth in the conference at 246.8 yards per game.

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore is also the third-most accurate passer in college football, completing passes at a wildly efficient 72.5% clip.

The Ducks also have just one loss on their resume, a 30-20 defeat at the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers, which essentially knocked them out of the Big Ten title game and propelled Indiana to an eventual top seed in the CFP.

Early Oregon vs Texas Tech Prediction

• Pick: Oregon ML (-108 at FanDuel)

Lost in all that offense is the fact that Oregon and Texas Tech each possess a dominant defense.

The Red Raiders are third in the nation in points allowed, a paltry 10.9 clip, while the Ducks rank ninth, allowing just 14.8 per contest.

Because there’s a chance that defense can take over this game, I’m staying away from the total in my Oregon vs Texas Tech prediction.

Instead, I’m going to pick Oregon to win outright. There’s always an argument of rust vs rest with these long layoffs, but Oregon getting a relatively easy route in the First Round of the CFP is a huge advantage to get back up to speed.

In a game that many believe will be a close back-and-forth, the Ducks have already gotten their feet wet, and any extra leg up they can get in this matchup could be the difference.

The Ducks have also had a more challenging and varied schedule against ranked teams. They hung with Indiana, but were able to play a rough-and-tumble game with Iowa. They outshot offensively-minded USC and went toe-to-toe with Penn State.

For as good as Texas Tech was this season, their ranked slate goes just Utah and BYU twice. And while they passed all those tests, I’m not sure they’ve seen a team as explosive as they are this season.

In what should be a close matchup, I’ll take the Ducks ever-so-slightly to get through to the Final Four.