Las Vegas sportsbooks have No. 9-ranked UCLA (6-0, 3-0 in the Pac-12) as six-point road underdogs when they visit No. 10 Oregon (5-1, 3-0) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PDT (Fox).
These are the last two unbeaten teams in conference play, so the winner will have the inside track for a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas on Dec. 2 while the loser will join one-loss USC and Utah, who are both idle.
The Bruins are 4-2 against the spread as their only non-covers were against Alabama State and South Alabama when they were big 48.5- and 15.5-point favorites, respectively. They’re coming off their bye week after upsetting Utah 42-32 as three-point road underdogs. The only other time this season that the Bruins were dogs was the prior week when they also upset Washington 40-32 as 2.5-point dogs.
Early bettors have shown support for UCLA as 71% of the bets and 76% of the money has been on the Bruins +6 at DraftKings as of Thursday morning. For the most up-to-date betting trends, see VSiN’s college football betting splits page.
Chip Kelly’s UCLA offense exploded for 28 second-half points to pull away in the 42-32 win at Utah, led by quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s 299 passing yards and five total TDs (four passing, 1 rushing). Running back Zach Charbonnet again led the running attack with 198 yards and a TD. UCLA has scored at least 32 points in every game this year.
Oregon also comes in with a high-powered offense, led by Auburn transfer quarterback Bo Nix. The Ducks were blown out 49-3 by now-No. 1 Georgia (ranked No. 3 at the time), but have scored at least 40 points in every game since, including a 49-22 rout at Arizona two weeks ago.
Oddsmakers have set the Over/Under on this game at an understandably high 71.5 points. Early bettors appear to believe it should be even higher as 57% of the bets and 69% of the bets have come in on the Over.
All signs point to UCLA at least covering as 6-point road dogs in a high-scoring shootout for the Pac-12 lead.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.