Saturday college football and we will see the California Golden Bears take on the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium in Tuscon, Arizona. The game has a start time of 10:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Current Vegas odds have the Wildcats listed as 8 point favorites, while the total is set at 70.
Analysis: The California Golden Bears suffered through an injury filled 1-11 first season under new HC Sonny Dykes. Now in his second season they have 15 starters and 50 lettermen back, and while they will be an improved team, a tough schedule may not all the results to show up much in the standing. The Golden Bears are off to a nice 2-0 start, which includes a win on the road over Northwestern. Cal did have last week off, but prior to their bye week they beat Sacramento State by a final of 55-14. In that game they put up 581 yards, including 326 yards through the air. Jared Goff threw for 229 yards and 4 TDs in the game and has been solid in his 2 games this year, hitting 67.9% of his passes for 510 yards with 7 TDs and just 1 INT. Overall the offense is ranked 37th in total offense (497.5 ypg) and 23rd in scoring (43 ppg), while the defense has played very well so far, ranking 33rd in yards allowed (327.5 ypg) and 31st in points allowed (19 ppg).
The Arizona Wildcats are off a pair of 8-5 season in Rich Rodriguez’ first two year at the helm and that now gives this team 5 winning years in the last 6, but still no more than 8 wins in a year. 13 starters are back this year, but they have some rebuilding to do, especially at QB, RB and the DL. The Cats are off to a nice 3-0 start that includes a hard fought 35-28 win over Nevada at home last week. It was a rather lackluster performance from Arizona as they were 20 point favorites in the game. Arizona did roll up 507 yards in the game, including 229 on the ground and at 6 yards per pop. Anu Solomon had a very nice game, hitting 84.6% of his passes for 278 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT. For the season he has now tossed 8 TDs to just 1 INT. Nick Wilson leads a solid ground attack with 449 yards and 4 TDs so far this year. For the year the Cats are 8th in the nation in total offense (582.7 ypg) and 35th in scoring (39.7 ppg), while the defense ranks 66th in yards allowed (383 ypg) and 47th in points allowed (21.3).
Pick: I like the Wildcats in this one. The line has come down as a bunch of money is coming in on on the Cal Bears, but I feel it is the wrong side here. Cal beat Northwestern on the road, but so what, so did Northern Illinois. Cal also beat Sacramento State, but so what, they are an FCS squad. The Bears have really shown nothing to think that the money should be coming in this heavily on the Bears. Arizona has crushed UNLV at home, beat a very good UTSA team on the road and beat a decent Nevada squad at home. They did struggle in that game and they are just 2-7 ATS the last 9 in the series, but still I feel that Arizona just has too much firepower for the Bears to keep this one close.
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