This Saturday Colorado will be hosting the Ducks. The health of both LaMichael James and QB Darron Thomas is not certain for Saturday, but the Buffs have their own injury worries at the moment. They have lost Douglas Rippy (leading tackler) to a knee injury, Paul Richardson (top receiver), Kyle Cefalo (receiver) and Rodney Stewart (tailback). This will be the third game in a grueling Pac-12 stretch for the Buffs; Stanford, Washington and now Oregon. They have not proven to be an offensive or defensive threat, but the Ducks will be facing this game like any other and cannot take it lightly. Coach Chip Kelly reiterates that as he talks about the Buffs;
“When you watch the tape, they play extremely hard,” Kelly said. “They’ve lost a ton of players through attrition and they’ve got a ton of injuries right now but they play hard from the beginning of the game to the end of the game.”
From espn.go.com (share this quote)
The Ducks will be traveling to Boulder for this game, but Coach Kelly has indicated that they cannot do anything specific about the change in altitude. So despite the altitude, let’s take a look at how these two teams match-up.
Colorado’s offensive line is leaving plenty of opportunity for defenses to infiltrate and make big stops. Their quarterback Tyler Hansen has been sacked 19 times so far this season. Oregon’s defense will take full advantage of this and try to get through that line as much as possible. Then there’s Colorado’s defense…they have an issue with making tackles. Nothing could be sweeter for Oregon. A high-powered offense against a team with tackling issues? That means big numbers for Oregon’s side of the scoreboard.
Here are a few predictions from around the web…
Clipped from: www.ralphiereport.com (share this clip)
Clipped from: espn.go.com (share this clip)
Clipped from: www.addictedtoquack.com (share this clip)
Everything indicates that Oregon will put up big numbers against the Buffs and that’s how we’re predicting it. Bennett, Barner and DAT all look phenomenal against ASU last weekend so this may be some additional time for LaMichael James and Darron Thomas to heal. Our final score prediction? 56 – 14 Oregon. The game kicks off at 12:30pm PT on FSN/Root.