Auburn early favorite against Oregon

[UOducksTK1]

Few day old news, but I feel like Auburn’s defense is gonna be really good and kinda expected Auburn to be bigger favorites than 1.5 points. Thoughts?

[TualatinDuck]

My only thought is I hate that this game is in Dallas.

[Merganzer]

That's a nice line for this "neutral" game, doesn't reflect the Way too early polls that have Oregon higher ranked than Auburn.

[GoDucksIn09]

Oregon can not score on the road. Line should be at least 7 or 10 in favor of Auburn.

[wepto]

I haven't seen anything that makes me think Oregon is capable of scoring in the double digits against Auburn. Hopefully the spring game shows some tweaks and improvements on the offensive side of the ball. One of the coaches did mention opening things up. They seem to be aware of the problem--I'm just not convinced that they are going to do what's necessary to fix it.

Too much ego, they kept the guy they liked (Arroyo), who has been underperforming, and got rid of the guy with proven results (Leavitt).

That being said, recruiting is the single biggest factor in the success of a team. Cristobal and co are obviously knocking it out of the park in that regard. Actually having 85 players on scholarship should be a significant boost. It remains to be seen how good the staff is at evaluating and developing talent.

The flip side is, Auburn is a mess. Their fans are convinced that the team plays significantly better when Malzahn is on the hot seat--but that's probably coincidental and their team is just inconsistent. It's not entirely clear who will play QB. It's possible that the Auburn offense doesn't show up.

Teams change more than fans and media expect them to from year-to-year. I could be completely off base. At least we have an exciting week 1.

[Duck07]

A whole lot of optimists in here.

[GrantDuck]

We're going to have trouble scoring in that game, but Auburn is breaking in a new QB and will likely have a conservative gameplan. Too early really, but something in the 17-13 range is a reasonable score.

[UOducksTK1]

A whole lot of optimists in here.

lol no kidding. If our D can create some turnover and hold their own, I can see us winning. But with a new DC at the helm, I just don't see it. As long as it's competitive, I'm happy.

[lukeyrid13]

Auburn also scored about 70 more points in their bowl game than we did.

Our best chance is that breaking in a new QB takes them a while.