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Late Night with the Pac-10: Week 14 Preview

December 2, 2010  |  By Jeff Popelka

This week the Pac-10 is less about drama and more about expectations.

Rivalries aside, this is the week for Oregon to punch their ticket to the title game. In doing so, the Ducks would also deny Oregon State a bowl game, a factor that may portend an even more chippy and physical matchup than the usual slugfest that is the Civil War.

Arizona and Arizona State will also have some heat associated with it, as this is again a rivalry game with bowl implications. ASU has had some miserable losses this year (the most brutal being the game against Wisconsin that was lost on the back of a missed extra point), and they now need a road win against Arizona to become bowl eligible.

In other action, we see one of the worst Apple Cup matchups in recent history, and a USC/UCLA clash that represents a combined 11 wins. Oh joy.

LNwtP-10 went 4-1 last week to bring the season total to 34-30 against the spread.

Thursday game:

Arizona State at Arizona (-6.5) - Arizona is the favorite here in their home stadium, but the once high flying Cats have now suffered three straight losses. Both sides of the ball have suffered in this streak, and now they face a Sun Devil squad that has been one of the toughest luck teams in all of college football. I think that the Wildcats will win at home, but it will be tight. Take ASU and the points.

Saturday games:

Oregon at Oregon State (+15.5) - I still can’t make heads or tails of the Beavers. No one can. This is a team that in back to back weeks lost to Washington State and then turned around to beat USC. Again, there’s no way to know which team shows up. Oregon is still awesome and this won’t be a let down, so if you feel the irresistible urge to play this game, go with the Ducks.

Washington at Washington State (+8) - They play for the Apple Cup. Yay. In this matchup (I pray no one has to actually watch), take Wazzu and the points.

USC at UCLA (+6) - While the large billboards that UCLA took out a couple of years ago proclaimed “The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over,” I don’t think that UCLA envisioned that they would continue to struggle while USC would get much worse. They are now much closer than they were five years ago, but that has very little to do with UCLA. Again, this is a game to stay away from, but if you must, take USC and lay the six.

Posted December 2, 2010 3:30 PM

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