James Madison vs Oregon Best Bets, Predictions & Picks for Today, December 20

The James Madison Dukes have earned their place in the College Football Playoff and should be every bit as competitive as the ACC teams that could have landed in this spot.

That said, the Oregon Ducks are a legitimate title contender and are rounding into form as they get healthy for a playoff run.

Let's dish on why they could overwhelm JMU in our James Madison vs. Oregon predictions before kickoff at 7:30pm ET at Autzen Stadium.

James Madison vs Oregon CFP predictions

• Oregon -20.5 (-120 at FanDuel)
• Under 45.5 (-108 at FanDuel)
• Barnett u25.5 rushing yards (-114 at FanDuel)
• Davison anytime TD (-135 at FanDuel)

James Madison vs Oregon best bets

-120 at FanDuel)

Oregon has messed around with Group of Five teams in the past, but Lanning looks like he's on a mission this season. Obviously I like Oegon to score here, but the Ducks' ability to limit explosive plays by JMU has me thinking they'll cover this big number.

-108 at FanDuel)

That ability to limit explosive plays means I have a slight lean to the Under in this game. The Dukes haven't faced anything like this Oregon defense, and the last time they played a Power Four team, they gained just 263 yards and scored 14 points.

James Madison vs Oregon TD pick

-135 at FanDuel)

Jordon Davison is built like a truck and has gotten stronger as the year went on.

Davison finished the season with 535 yards at 6.1 yards per carry with 444 of those yards coming in his last seven games. He’s also become the Ducks' goal-line back and has found the end zone 13 times this season.

Taking Davison to go Over his rushing prop and to score another touchdown reads right into the game script for Oregon and makes all the sense in the world for this SGP.

James Madison vs Oregon prop pick

-114 at FanDuel)

James Madison likely has some trickery up its sleeve, but also expect Bob Chesney to try to shorten this matchup. The Dukes already run better than they throw, and they run often to start with the 23rd-highest relative rate in the country, per CFB-graphs.com.

However, that should not be via quarterback Alonza Barnett, at least not extensively. Opponents rarely run their quarterbacks against Oregon due to the quality of the Ducks’ defensive front.

Nonetheless, the Dukes’ focus on the run early would keep the ball out of Oregon’s hands a bit, at which point James Madison can hope variance breaks its way.

Eventually, the Ducks should find success. Once the Dukes are down multiple scores, they will have little choice but to drop back and pass. In those same moments, Oregon’s defensive line will know to do nothing but pursue the passer.

The Ducks conjure pressure on more than 40% of opposing dropbacks, the 10th-highest rate in the country. Those pressures should yield sacks against Barnett, and each sack will count against his rushing total.

Both aspects of this likely game state work against Barnett cracking this prop.

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This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here