Chris Jordan Saturday's winners ...


400♦ ARIZONA WILDCATS - Despite the line movement toward UCLA – two points from -9 since it opened – I can’t imagine anyone endorsing the Bruins, who look like an absolute mess after losing three straight. They’ve given up an average of 31 points in all three losses and come into this one with one of the most anemic offenses in the nation.

That can’t be any good since Arizona has revealed one of the nation’s best young quarterbacks in Nick Foles. He’s 17th in the nation in pass efficiency and 48th overall in total offense. Truth be known, the Wildcats have put together one of the best offenses in the Pac 10 thanks to Foles, whose numbers are astonishing if you as me (1,152 yards passing, Nine touchdowns, just two interceptions, and he’s completed 73.9 percent of his passes this season).

With Foley’s emergence, the Wildcats are as balanced as any other offense in college football, as their running game remains effective with three all-conference caliber rushers coming out of the backfield. That includes Nic Grigsby, who appears to be fully healthy; trust me when I tell you UCLA’s defense will have its hands full today with the 79th-ranked rushing offense. Remember, it’s the rushing game that sets up the passing game.

Bottom line is UCLA is terrible on offense and only slightly better on the other side of the ball. And with this game being played in Arizona, I can’t give the Bruins much of a chance to stop the bleeding.

Not when they’ve dropped four of their last five in conference play. They’re also mired in losing streaks of 2-6 as an underdog, 2-5 against winning teams and 0-4 in October.

And to go along with that 11-5 ATS stat I mentioned on the front end of this package, the Wildcats are on a 9-3 ATS run at home, while the home team is 5-1 ATS the last six meetings and the favorite is on an 8-3 spread streak in this series.

100♦ DUKE BLUE DEVILS - This victory starts and ends with the turnover.

Duke, which is 3-3 on the year and has thoughts of playing in a bowl for the first time in 15 years, ranks 28th in the nation in turnover margin and the Terrapins are damn near the worst in the nation, ranking 118th. And gauging from Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen’s tirade about turnovers this past week, I’d have to say the Blue Devils are clearly at an advantage in this ACC clash.

Though its rushing game is non-existent, Duke has the eighth-best pass attack in the country and 28th-ranked scoring offense, which is putting up 31.83 points per game. Maryland can’t hang with that, and when the Terps look to play catch-up with their rather anemic offense, they’ll likely commit mistakes that will result in turnovers.

I know the Terps have pulled off two wins this season, but this is one of the worst defenses in the country in all facets of the game. They rank near the bottom of the ACC in scoring offense (22.9 points per game), scoring defense (33.7 ppg.), rushing offense (100.7 yards per game) and rushing defense (158.3 ypg), and are worst in the ACC with 20 turnovers.

Bottom line with the Devils is they’ve improved in every area imaginable on the gridiron under second-year coach David Cutliffe. This team seems better prepared for games, it executes much better, it’s putting up much better numbers than in the past and it really is the most formidable team and promising Blue Devils team to get to the postseason.

Thus, covering a five-point spread against one of the worst teams in the nation with a lame-duck coach shouldn’t be a problem. Lay the home chalk with the Blue Devils.