Friday Facts: 10 Gameday Predictions For Oregon Vs. New Mexico

The wait is down to one day. One day separates Duck nation from the first game of the year. After a long offseason, the regular season is upon us and the Ducks are ready to start the defense of their Pac-10 crown. While the Ducks are three games away from kicking off their Pac-10 schedule, the open the season by playing host to New Mexico. This year, I will be making gameday predictions the day before every game and then reviewing them the following week. Here are the ten things to look for tomorrow in Oregon's game versus New Mexico, including a final score prediction.

Five False Start Penalties for New Mexico

True sophomore, B.R. Holbrook, will be under center for New Mexico. Holbrook only has 34 attempts in his collegiate career and this will lead to a long day at Autzen Stadium. The crowd will be on top of Holbrook from the opening snap and will make it near impossible to audible out of the plays.

Against great teams, Autzen has caused false start problems, against New Mexico, they will cause five.

Ducks Pick off B.R. Holbrook Three Times

Continuing with B.R. Holbrook, he finds himself rushing his throws and this leads to trouble. Oregon has a lot of team speed and that is true for the defensive side of the ball as well. Look for the Ducks to run a lot of blitzes and stunts, trying to rush Holbrook and his decision making.

New Mexico Scoring Drought Ends

New Mexico has some disturbing history on their side. The past four years, New Mexico has failed to score a touchdown in their season opener. This year, New Mexico finally ends the drought.

My belief isn't that New Mexico will put a long drive together and end it with a touchdown but rather that Darron Thomas may have a turnover deep in Oregon territory, giving New Mexico a short field.

No Throwing Touchdown For Thomas

This is a game that will be dominated by the run game. The Ducks will be looking to pound the ball and move it on the ground and will likely not put Darron Thomas in too many passing situations. Thomas will score a touchdown but it will be on an option read that he keeps and takes in himself.

Nate Costa Leads a Scoring Drive

This prediction speaks to the score of the game, not the play of Darron Thomas. By the middle of the third quarter, this game should be well in hand. Coach Kelly will take this as an opportunity to rest Darron Thomas but also get Nate Costa some game action before they head to Tennessee the following week.

Carmen Messina Leads All Defenders in Tackles

One defender that could give the Ducks some issues is New Mexico linebacker Carmen Messina. Messina will be all over the field and with the amount of time the New Mexico defense will find themselves on the field, Messina will lead all players in tackles.

Ducks Score First

Whether the offense sees the field first or not, look for Oregon too put the first points of the game up. This was one of my keys to the game yesterday and with Oregon getting the opening points, it will relax both the team and crowd and allow the Ducks to get rolling.

Kenjon Barner: 200 Total Yards of Offense

If you do not know about Kenjon Barner, watch the game tomorrow. With starting back, LaMichael James, suspended for the opener, Barner will be seeing a lot of action. Not only will Barner be running the ball on offense, Barner will likely be called on to return kicks and punts.

With all the different ways Barner will find himself with the ball, he will be putting up big numbers in the season opener.

Darron Thomas Runs For 75+

Darron Thomas is making his first start tomorrow and with your first start will come nerves. With the nerves, an athletic quarterback like Thomas, comes happy feet. Thomas is an extremely athletic quarterback and may find himself looking for his first and second targets and then taking off.

The only thing stopping Thomas from getting to this total may be the lack of pass calls that will be dialed up and the chance that Thomas will not be needed the entire game.

Final Score

Ducks fans are expecting a huge blowout and in my opinion they will get that. The crowd, running game and lack of experience at their own quarterback position will be too much for New Mexico.

Final Score

41-10 Oregon