Las Vegas Bowl: #25 Boise State Broncos at Oregon Ducks

Oregon Takes on Boise State without Star RB Freeman

pmroczka

December 16, 2017

The #25 Boise State Broncos (10-3) and Oregon Ducks (7-5) meet today at 3:30 p.m. E.T. in the Las Vegas Bowl. Our Boise State plays Oregon 2017 Las Vegas Bowl pick has the Ducks at -7.0 and the totals at anywhere from 60 to 62.5 points. Boise State comes into this game with a 4-1 record for their last five games, which includes a 28-17 loss versus Fresno State in its final regular-season contest and a 17-14 win against that same Fresno State team in the Mountain West Conference title game. The Oregon Ducks were 3-2 over their final five games and finished fourth in the Pac-12 North with a 4-5 conference record.

Boise State Overview

The Mountain West champs come to this game on a roll. They have solid pass and ground attacks and are averaging 32.1 PPG while holding opponents to 22.5 PPG. Junior QB Brett Rypien (63.5 COMP%, 14 TDs, 4 INTs) has two top targets, senior TE Jake Roh with nine TD catches and WR Cedrick Wilson with 73 catches for over 1,200 yards and a total of six TDs. RB Alexander Mattison comes to this game with 209 ATT, 1,074 yards, and a dozen scores. The Bronco defense is holding teams to 336.4 YPG of offense, while their offense is cranking out 400.4 YPG. DE Curtis Weaver has proven to be a beast in his first year, leading the team in sacks with nine and in TFL with 11, while junior LB Leighton Vander Esch comes to this game with 129 tackles, three FF, and two picks. He also has three sacks and 5.5 TFL.

Broncos Summary

Offense has numerous weapons
Excellent receiving squad
D has 14 FF and 13 interceptions

Oregon Overview

The Ducks are averaging 36.7 PPG and allowing 28.3. They bring a dynamic rush attack to this game, which is averaging 268 YPG. QB LeJustin Herbert (66.5 COMP%, 13 TDs, 3 INTs), who missed five games during the season, offers stability. His top receivers with nine combined touchdown catches are Dillon Mitchell and Jacob Breeland. But the Ducks are more of a running team, and with their top running back Royce Freeman (244 ATT, 1,475 YDs, 6.0 AVG, 16 TDs) out, the ground game will be hampered. Senior RB Kani Benoit (80 ATT, 573 YDs, 7.2 AVG, 10 TDs) will get a lot of work in this game. The defense, which is allowing 360 YPG, has over 75 TFL and more than 30 sacks. They also have 14 picks. LB Troy Dye (103 TCKLs, 4 SCKs, 14 TFL) and DL Jalen Jelks (50 TCKLs, 7.0 SCKs, 15.5 TFL) are essential performers on D.

Ducks Summary

Rush attack is their hallmark but RB Freeman is out
Defense has some top performers
QB Herbert needs to have a good day

Three Las Vegas Bowl Takeaways

Our Boise State plays Oregon 2017 Las Vegas Bowl pick sees these three takeaways as being major factors-

QB edge goes to Broncos
Defenses fairly equal
Loss of RB Freeman huge for Oregon

Our Las Vegas Bowl Picks

In creating our Boise State plays Oregon 2017 Las Vegas Bowl pick, we certainly believe that there will be a lot of points scored in this game. But Freeman is a major point-scorer for Oregon. It was his decision not to play. We did like the over at 60.0 when he was going to be on the field. Instead, we are taking the under at 62.5. The Broncos have a good team and should be able to hold their own against the Ducks. We do like Boise State at +7.5.