The Oregon Ducks and Utah Utes are currently first in their respective divisions in the Pac-12, so Saturday’s meeting at Rice-Eccles Stadium could be a preview of this year’s Pac-12 Championship Game. The Ducks, however, have a bit more to play for in this one, as they are currently viewed as a College Football Playoff team.
Will the Utes come away with a victory and end the Ducks’ title hopes? Check out our Oregon vs. Utah picks and predictions to find out how this will go down.
Oregon vs Utah odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
Oregon was a 1-point road underdog at first and Utah has since moved to a 3-point favorite. The line in this one is moving in the opposite direction of the action, with the public seemingly favoring the Ducks here. The total, which opened at 59.5, is now down to 58.5 and the public is similarly leaning in the opposite way of the movement.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full college football odds before placing your bets.
Oregon vs Utah predictions
Predictions made on 11/19/2021 at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Oregon vs Utah game info
• Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, UT
• Date: Saturday, November 20, 2021
• Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: ABC
Oregon vs Utah betting preview
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our NCAA football weather info.
Key injuries
Oregon: D.J. Johnson LB (Questionable), Patrick Herbert TE (Questionable), Jordan Happle S (Questionable), Sean Dollars RB (Out), Bennett Williams S (Out), CJ Verdell RB (Out), Justin Flowe LB (Out), Dru Mathis LB (Out), Jackson LaDuke LB (Out), Cam McCormick TE (Out), JJ Greenfield S (Out).
Utah: Cole Bishop S (Questionable), Jaren Kump OL (Out), Viane Moala DT (Out), Jatravis Broughton DB (Out).
Find our latest NCAA football injury reports.
Betting trend to know
Utah 12-3 against the spread in its last 15 games when coming off a Pac-12 win. Find more NCAA betting trends for Oregon vs. Utah.
Oregon vs Utah picks and predictions
Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.
Spread analysis
Utah gave up only 102 rushing yards against the Arizona Wildcats last week, and the Utes also gave up only 82 yards on the ground in a win over the Stanford Cardinal two weeks ago. Since Kyle Whittingham became the head coach of Utah, the team is 36-16 against the spread when coming off back-to-back games of allowing 125 or fewer rushing yards.
The battle in the trenches this game is going to be extremely important, as the Ducks have college football’s 11th ranked rushing attack. Oregon is gaining 227.4 yards per game on the ground this season, and the Ducks need to be effective in that regard in order to throw with Anthony Brown.
Brown really doesn’t have the ability to go out and win games with his arm. He desperately needs the threat of the run to help open things up for him as a passer, and the same also goes for his ability to run the ball. Brown has rushed for 551 yards and eight scores this year, but he could struggle to pick up chunk yardage with Utah’s ability to get into the backfield.
All in all, it wouldn’t be that surprising if the Utes came out and really stifled this Ducks offense. Utah is allowing only 18.8 points per game at home this season, and the team is going to be jacked up in front of this crowd. That could spell trouble for a Ducks team that could be somewhat distracted with Mario Cristobal’s name coming up as a head coaching target for other teams.
On offense, Cameron Rising has also taken a huge leap for the Utes, and he’s a huge reason they are now averaging 35.7 points per game this season. Rising hasn’t put up big numbers with his arm this year, but he doesn’t make mistakes and gets the ball to his playmakers. That’s all Utah needs with Tavion Thomas, TJ Pledger, and Micah Bernard in the backfield. The three of them have rushed for a total of 1,672 yards and 21 touchdowns this year.
Prediction: Utah -3 (-110)
Over/Under analysis
Despite the public being heavy on the Over in this game, the total has gone down and a lot of the money is on the Under. That means that the sharps see something that makes them believe this will be a low-scoring game. Perhaps it’s the fact that the weather report has this being a chilly night with some scattered showers. It could, however, be because the Utes have the right roster makeup and coaching staff to make the Ducks uncomfortable.
With Utah being a run-heavy team, it would take an explosive throwing game from Oregon to make this game Over the total. However, that’s not the way this year’s Ducks team is built, so we could see a lot of clock being chewed up with these two programs running the ball a lot.
For what it’s worth, the Under is 2-0 in the two games that Oregon has played as a road underdog over the last three seasons. It’s also 14-7 when Utah is coming off a two-game road trip under Whittingham.
Prediction: Under 58.5 (-110)
Best bet
Utah is a ridiculous 15-0 straight up and 13-2 against the spread in the team’s last 15 games when playing as a home favorite since the beginning of November 2017. The Utes have outscored opponents by an average margin of 21.7 points per game over those contests, showing that this group is just flat-out dominant when the oddsmakers pick them to win at home.
At the same time, Oregon is just 1-7 against the spread when facing opponents that give up more than 12 yards per punt return under Cristobal, suggesting Utah’s strong special teams could play a big factor in this one.
Overall, a lot of factors are pointing towards a win for the Utes, even though the Ducks are the higher-ranked team in this game.
Pick: Utah -3 (-110)
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