Cal-Arizona and Utah-Michigan Highlight Vegas Pac 12 Predictions for Week 4
Saturday Blitz Vegas Pac 12 Predictions Week 4
Game of the Week
California Golden Bears at Arizona Wildcats
Line: Arizona by 8
Here’s a game of the week you probably didn’t see coming. The Golden Bears have surprised a few people by getting off to a 2-0 start, already better than last year’s team, and looking good in the process. The Arizona Wildcats, meanwhile, are like many Pac 12 teams that have lots of hype and want to keep proving how good they area. This is a great Pac 12 game between two teams that are trying to figure out just how good they are. Saturday night will be a good measurement for that.
The Wildcats under Rich Rodriguez look as good as they’ve ever looked after three solid wins. While the last two were closer than they would have liked against mid-majors, Nevada and Texas San Antonio are not mid-majors to be slept on. Anu Solomon’s 934 passing yards and 121 rushing yards through three games to go with 8 passing touchdowns to only 1 interception have been remarkable, and combining him with Nick Wilson makes the Wildcats reminiscent of the Pat White-Steve Slaton days when Rodriguez was at West Virginia. They’ll both be heavily needed on Saturday as Cal is a team that hasn’t shown itself to have a great defense so far this year, especially in the passing game, as it allowed Northwestern to rack up nearly 250 passing yards in its loss and then surrendered 14 points to lowly Sacramento State. The Wildcats’ pass defense will also need to improve, and perhaps they’ll want to drop back in coverage a lot more since Cal likes to throw the ball around.
The Golden Bears, meanwhile, are going to put their fate in the hands of Jared Goff, who has completed 68 percent of his passes so far this year with 7 touchdowns to only 1 interception. His efficiency is the reason they are 2-0, and he could be able to expose a very suspect Arizona pass defense. There’s not much for Cal in the running game, but their defense has to step up and keep Solomon and Wilson in check somehow. Cal also has to take care of the football, as Arizona has only 1 turnover on the year through three games while Cal has 3 turnovers through two games. If they can’t hold onto the ball then this will be a long day for them as they try to prove that they are back with the better teams in the Pac 12. This is a team that has lots of momentum right now, but a lot of things have to go right to keep that momentum from being shattered this weekend. Arizona is a difficult outing for this team, but if it plays its game it can expose some of the Wildcats’ weaknesses.
Prediction
Cal will throw for a few touchdowns on the Wildcats defense and make this a much closer game early on than anybody expects. This will be a high-scoring affair. But after a few turnovers and struggling to stop the Arizona offense, the Wildcats will grab the lead for good in the fourth quarter. This will be a fun, high-scoring affair worth watching, but Arizona will pull it out in the end with just too much talent and a great scheme.
Arizona: 45 California: 38