2013 Oregon Ducks
College Football
Preview
Schedule and Odds
Chip Kelly is gone but that doesn’t mean Oregon is suddenly going to fall off and become irrelevant. Former offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich is now the head coach which means there shouldn’t be a ton of drop off from the Ducks.
In fact, the Ducks are favored to win the PAC-12 title this year at odds of just under 2 to 1 and they are the 3rd choice overall to win the BCS Title, behind only Ohio State and Alabama, at current odds of 9 to 1. Those odds are courtesy of 5 Dimes Sportsbook, as of mid July.
They will run the same offense that garnered almost 50 points per Game last season and they will be returning eight starters. Kenjon Barner is gone from the backfield, but De’Anthony Thomas is just as abled to carve through defenses along with quarterback Marcus Mariota and younger RB Byron Marshall. A couple offensive linemen are also out of the picture, but the variation in this offense should keep the holes wide open. Oregon will likely be just as deadly as they were a year ago on the offensive end, but defensively some new players will have to step up.
Gone are two linebackers and leading tacklers in Michael Clay and Kiki Alonso. Someone is going to have to step up in their absence not only on the field, but in a leadership role. Helfrich has a lot to live up to and getting to that National Championship Game is going to be his first task. If the offense can keep last year’s pace, the defense doesn’t exactly have to shut down opponents. Still, with tons of depth defensively, they shouldn’t fall off that much, if at all.
2013 Oregon Ducks Football Schedule
Aug. 31 vs. Nicholls State
Sept. 7 at Virginia
Sept. 14 vs. Tennessee
Sept. 28 vs. California
Oct. 5 at Colorado
Oct. 12 at Washington
Oct. 19 vs. Washington State
Oct. 26 vs. UCLA
Nov. 7 at Stanford
Nov. 16 vs. Utah
Nov. 23 at Arizona
Nov. 29 vs. Oregon State
Looking at Oregon’s Schedule, one would say it’s pretty nice. They don’t have to play USC or Arizona State for starters. They also get UCLA at home who may be the top team coming out of the Pac-12 South.
The Ducks should have no problems out-of-Conference and if everything goes to plan, won’t have a loss when they travel to Stanford on November 7. That Game will be their hardest of the season by far and could eventually determine the winner of the North division. The Cardinal ruined Oregon’s perfect season last year, so you know the Ducks will want to get one back. Back-to-back Games at Arizona and against Oregon State will be tough to close out the season, but nothing the Ducks can’t handle.
Another one-loss season is in the cards for Oregon, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if Helfrich can get these troops rolling to an undefeated campaign. Of course, there’s always a chance that there will be some fall out with Chip Kelly gone, but that definitely won’t be on the minds of anyone in the organization.