Washington football is a 27.5-point favorite against the Cal Golden Bears. That does not reflect how good the Huskies’ opposition is in Week 6.
The No. 6 Washington Huskies take on the Cal Golden Bears in Week 6 as they look to stay undefeated. Washington has now faced two Pac-12 opponents, neither of which posed too much of a challenge. The Oregon State Beavers and Colorado Buffaloes were both brushed aside by the Huskies in consecutive weeks.
However, Cal is a much improved team this year under head coach Justin Wilcox. The defense is actually stopping some opposing offenses this season. And, sophomore Cal quarterback Ross Bowers is having himself a very good year.
This stretch of the schedule for Cal is one of the hardest that any Pac-12 team faces. Starting two weeks ago against the USC Trojans, Cal faced three ranked teams over the course of four consecutive games. Even the one team that is not ranked, the Oregon Ducks, are just outside the AP Top 25. The other two games that Cal has on tap is this one against Washington and the Washington State Cougars. It will really test the Golden Bears.
Cal is likely to end up making a bowl game this year. They only need three more wins to become bowl eligible. However, they’ll have to make it through this gauntlet of an October schedule without losing too much confidence.
UW junior quarterback Jake Browning is having another big season with 1,251 passing yards and 12 touchdowns and only three interceptions so far. Junior running back Myles Gaskin is also on pace for another 1,000 rushing yard campaign. Not to mention what senior wide receiver Dante Pettis is doing in place of John Ross on both offense and special teams.
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Yet, Cal is a much bigger challenge than Oregon State was for the Huskies last week. Even Colorado might be a little bit worse than the Golden Bears. Washington has to be careful to avoid another slow start against a Cal team that would be able to jump on the opportunity.