The California Golden Bears looked like a lock to contend for a bowl game following a 3-0 start to the season. However, Cal has dropped five of its six games since to fall to 4-5 and will need a strong finish to the year in order to remain in contention. With a trip to visit the No. 18 Stanford Cardinal on November 18th looming, the Golden Bears will need to ramp up the urgency when they host the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday night. California is set to play its final two regular season games on the road so Memorial Stadium should be rocking for this week’s home finale.
Details
Odds: California -7
Date & Time: Saturday November 4th 2017 – 9:00 PM ET
Location: Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California
Broadcast: Pac-12 Network
Reasons To Bet On The Oregon State Beavers
The Beavers are coming off their seventh loss in eight games this season but they gave Stanford all that it could handle in last week’s 15-14 loss. Interim coach Cory Hall has done an absolutely fantastic job with Oregon State in his two games as head coach. The Beavers have lost to Colorado and Stanford by an average margin of just 1.5 points the last two weeks.
The general perception was that Oregon State wasn’t talented enough. To date, they still haven’t topped an FBS program. The fact that they were getting pummeled every week is what led to Gary Anderson’s resignation. However, Hall has come in and proven that that’s not the case. This team is fighting for him.
Hall might be in tough to keep his team playing at such a high level for a third week in a row. This group has proven it can hang with some of the better teams in the Pac-12 so they won’t go down easy this weekend. Oregon State is getting seven points as a road underdog so at the very least they could end up covering at Cal.
Reasons To Bet On The California Golden Bears
One week after a 45-44 loss to the Arizona Wildcats at home, things fell apart for the Golden Bears in a 44-28 loss at Colorado. The Cal defense was an absolute mess once again and this time the offense wasn’t nearly good enough to bail them out. The good news is that the Golden Bears might be overdue for a victory with a good chance to rebound at home against an opponent that at least on paper appears to be inferior. Quarterback Russ Bowers was pretty good in last week’s loss to the Wildcats, throwing for 359 yards and three touchdowns with an interception. If Bowers can deliver a similar performance this week without the turnover then there is a good chance Cal will finally get back in the win column in its home finale.
Outlook
This is an interesting showdown of teams in the Pac-12 basement. Cal got their shot in the arm at hom against Washington State three weeks ago but that memory is fading. They played well against Arizona (but lost) and then got smoked at Colorado last week. Has Justin Wilcox’s message faded? This appears to be a spot where they can rebound.
As for the Beavers, they’ve been very competitive under Hall. They should have upset Stanford last week. But did them empty it out last week or was that just the beginning of a trend of a team that will turn things around?
California seems like the right side here. Do you really want to be laying a touchdown with them? Probably not. However, this team seems more competent than Oregon State these days. The Bears have beaten North Carolina, Ole Miss and Washington State while Oregon State hasn’t topped an FBS school yet. Now they have to find a way to do it on the road. Unlikely. Look for Cal to assert themselves here and keep Oregon State down in the dumps. The Bears opened higher, laying -8 but at a touchdown, laying the points makes much more sense.
Pick: California -7
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