USC-Utah and Arizona State-Washington Highlight Vegas Pac 12 Predictions Week 9
Saturday Blitz Vegas Pac 12 Predictions Week 9
No. 6 Oregon Ducks at California Golden Bears
Line: Oregon by 18
Yes, Oregon is right back in the national title hunt. Now, they travel on the road to face a surprisingly good Cal team on a Friday night. Anything can happen in these crazy games. To avoid that, Oregon simply needs to play its game. The Ducks don’t have to worry about too much physical play from the Golden Bears on the front line the way they did against Arizona, and the Cal defense is awful, so Marcus Mariota needs to pour it on this team as much as he possibly can. Then, the secondary needs to come through. That’s enough for a comfortable victory.
Cal, unfortunately, does not match up well with Oregon. They can’t force them to play a physical game, so their best chance is to play their game with Jared Goff and try to outscore the Ducks. They have no other choice, and maybe, with this being a home game for them on a Friday night, some crazy things will happen. Maybe Oregon will have a mistake-filled night on offense. If that happens, and the Golden Bears manage to keep scoring, then they could possibly pull off the upset in front of their home crowd. But they’re going to need a little help.
Prediction
We’re not going to bet on luck for this one. Cal’s defense is awful all the way around, and while physical play is what beats Oregon, there’s nothing physical about this team. This will be a blowout of epic proportions by Oregon, and it will be so bad that people will start talking about putting them back in the Top 3 again.
Oregon: 62 California: 31