Oregon Ducks Can Wrap Up Pac-10 On Saturday

Sports News - November 19th, 2009 - Written by John

Despite losing momentum.

Despite losing star rusher LeGarrette Blount after the first game of the season.

Despite being throttled by Stanford a week ago, the Oregon Ducks are still in position to win their first Pac-10 title in almost 15 years. With over the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, the Ducks can make the Rose Bowl in just the first season under head coach Chip Kelly, and the first time since 1995.

College Football Betting Lines have them as six point favorites over Arizona, according to BetUS, with a total of 60.

With a loss, however, well that gets a bit tricky. If the Wildcats are able to pull the upset, it will trigger a four-way tie between they, Oregon, Oregon State, and Stanford. Arizona would have the inside track in that situation, with all four teams having two losses. But beating the Ducks would mean a sweep of all three teams, and beating Arizona State the following week, then Southern Cal in the season finale, would give the Wildcats their first outright title.

"We know we’ve got to win to stay in the big picture,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. “There’s a lot of football to be played, but pretty much it’ll be over if we don’t win on Saturday.”

Oregon would prefer to keep things simple. With no more conference games scheduled, the Ducks would seal the title right then and there. They have been the most steady team in the conference all year, drilling USC at home and beating Oregon State by a good margin, too. But it hasn't been the prettiest of seasons. Oregon was handled in the season-opener against Boise State before LeGarrette Blount, the team's rushing leader from 2008, was suspended for the majority of the season after a post-game scuffle. Then Stanford's Toby Gerhart beat the brakes off the Ducks' defense, puting up a Cardinal-record 223 yards yards and three touchdowns in an ugly, 51-45, loss two weeks ago.

But the team has managed to stay together and running back LaMichael James has done plenty to fill in for his predecessor. With Blount back in the lineup for the first time last Saturday, James ran for 150 yards and three touchdowns and has a freshman-record 1,193 yards on the season. He also has five-consecutive 100-yard games.

“LaMichael had a great game (against Arizona State) and showed again why he’s one of the best in the nation. We’re going to ride him as long as we can,” Kelly said.

Arizona is still a formidable obstacle in it's way, though. The Wildcats boast the third-best rushing defense in the nation and quarterback Nick Foles has completed nearly 70-percent of his passes.

If we want to stay in this thing, we’ve got to win, or our visions of a championship are over,” Stoops said. “And you’d better compete and understand what it’s going to take to win a game like this. I look for our kids to take on that challenge and respond in a positive way.”

The team's have split the last two meetings, each winning at home. Arizona won 34-24 two years ago, then Oregon responded with a barnburning 55-45 win in Eugene.

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