With college football season on the horizon, ESPN Chalk's college football experts -- Phil Steele, "Stanford Steve" Coughlin and Chris Fallica -- combine to give you betting previews of the top 25 teams, according to the ESPN College Football Rankings. They break down each team's strengths and weaknesses, along with season win total bets and national title odds.
Odds from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook as of Aug. 22.
Oregon Ducks
National title odds: 50-1 (opened 40-1)
Season win total: 7.5
FPI win projection: 7.4
Phil Steele
Strengths: Oregon has incredible athletes at the skill positions. Running back Royce Freeman is one of the best in the country and the unit is deep, as is the receiving corps. I rank those units No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, in the country. Seven of the eight groups rank in my top units, but only two are above No. 29.
Weaknesses:
Over/under (7.5): I have the Ducks pegged for a third-place finish in the Pac-12 North, but I am still surprised the total is just 7.5. They do face Stanford and Washington at home and Nebraska, USC, Utah, California and Washington State on the road. The last time Oregon did not win eight games was way back in 2006, and the Ducks have averaged 10.2 wins per season in that span. The history says to take the over.
National title odds (50-1): Oregon opened at 40-1 and is now at 50-1. This comes after the program has been ranked around the preseason top 10 for years. Still, I feel defense wins championships and despite a great offense and getting Washington and Stanford at home, I will pass on this one.
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin
O/U: How about the lack of chatter surrounding the Ducks in Eugene? It all feels so weird, knowing how they have been the face of the conference on the national scene, from their uniforms, to title game appearance to CFB Playoff spot two years ago. The best part is their head coach, Mark Helfrich, is probably happy with the lack of love being thrown the Ducks' way.
With "Rolls" Royce Freeman (6.0 yards per carry the last two years) coupled with another grad transfer QB for the second straight year -- Dakota Prukop from Montana State (who also got interest from Michigan and Alabama) -- the Ducks feel like they have enough talent to be back atop the Pac-12 North. Their out-of-conference test comes in Week 3 with a trip to Nebraska against former rival head coach, Mike Riley, but more importantly the Ducks get their two biggest division games at home in Washington and Stanford, plus they don't have to play UCLA.
The public seems to be down on the Ducks, because ... why? They had a horrible loss to end the year versus TCU where they had a huge lead and once again lost their QB? I see the Ducks in the Pac-12 title game. Gimme the over here.
Chris Fallica
O/U: You have to go back to 2006 to find the last time Oregon wouldn't cash for a season win total this low. But the direction of the defense has to be concerning, as last year the Ducks were 58th of 65 Power 5 teams in defensive efficiency; in 2010, when the Ducks played for the national title, they were second. We'll see if Brady Hoke can get them back in the right direction. It also remains to be seen if Oregon can succeed again with an FCS transfer at QB. I like the RB and WR group, but they are going to have to score a lot of points. The schedule is OK, as the Ducks host Washington and Stanford and visit Nebraska, Washington State, Utah and USC.
Are they going to lose all four of those road games and to either Washington or Stanford at home? They could, but 7-5 would be a viewed as a bad year in Eugene. Just on respect alone, I'd have to think 8-4 is as bad as it would get. I'd lean to the over here.
CFB Playoff odds: It's hard to think this Oregon team will contend for the national title, given the state of the defense and an uncertain QB situation.