Week 2: Way out West Wednesday

By Kyle Magin

Then all at once the trouble started (sharted?)

I'd say you've had enough! But you haven't, because it's only Wednesday, and we've still got the Wild, Wild West to cover. While the upcoming slate of games this week is pretty weak, overall, there are a few compelling matchups on the far side of the Mississippi. Let's get to it.

Nebraska -5.5 @ UCLA
The Cornhuskers head into the City of Angels after a historic Saturday that saw QB Taylor Martinez annihilate Southern Miss with 354 passing yards, completing 76 percent of his throws. Martinez got spectacular protection from his line, and that's bad news for a UCLA defense that had a problem giving up some long receptions to the likes of Rice's RB Sam McGuffie last week. Nebraska struggled against the run, though, giving up 180-plus yards against an inferior opponent in Southern. That's a part of the game where the Bruins excel—freshman QB Brett Hundley busted a 72–yard gain on the first play from scrimmage last week and the team tallied 300-plus rushing yards. The wildcard here is Nebraska's running game—it looked fine last week after leading rusher Rex Burkhead suffered an ACL injury, but he's questionable again for this weekend's showdown. UCLA is 16-9 as a home dog against the spread in the last 10 years—something to think about.

Oklahoma State -11 @ Arizona
The Fighting T. Boone Pickenses roll into Tuscon after winning 84-0 against Savannah State. I'm going to let that sink in.




84-0. They overshot their line by 22 points. Savannah State's head coach thanked OK St. Head Coach Mike Gundy for taking his foot off the gas. This is an offense that lost its top receiver and world-beater QB and still managed to cover the biggest spread in history. Any statistical look at an 84-0 game is by definition stupid, so let's agree that OK St. is coming in with a top-flight defense at all three levels and an offense that is considerably less suspect than it was going into last week, led by freshman QB Wes Lunt. 'Zona looked shaky on defense in last week's overtime win over Toledo and coughed up 3 turnovers on offense. That will not fly against the opportunistic Cowboys, who averaged 1.6 takeaways last year on defense. Arizona will need to establish its running game, which looked strong at times last week, to slow down this OSU attack. Cats QB Matt Scott must continue to find his targets deep for 'Zona to stay close. OSU has dominated the Cats in the last two years, winning twice by a combined score of 73-27.

Fresno State @ Oregon -34.5
Oregon demolished Arkansas State last week, getting contributions from both the running and passing game on offense, led by HUMAN SWISS ARMY KNIFE® DeAnthony Thomas with a million touchdowns (or, you know, 2 rushing TDs, 1 receiving.) Oregon looked otherworldly and stepped on ASU's throat early with a two point conversion after their first touchdown. But, they did get caught napping in the passing game a few times, giving up 14 points that shouldn't have been on the board in their 57-34 blowout. I say this because if anyone is going to catch someone else napping it'll be my girlfriend when I still have chores to do. Also Fresno State QB Derek Carr (yes, his little brother), who completed 80 percent of his passes in a win last week over Weber State, averaging nearly 12 yards per throw. This is not a bush league MWC QB to be trifled with but a legit threat with legit threats to throw to and a solid O-line. It'll be incumbent upon the Ducks to load up the line of scrimmage and stop the run, forcing the throw as Carr's only means of survival. Do that, eliminate easy third down conversions, and you've got him where you want him... but get caught napping and find out the hard way that Fresno is 21-13 against the spread as a road dog over the past 10 years.