Live Free Picks
Home Of 500 Handicappers
The Pac-12 gets the Friday night spotlight to itself this week as Washington looks to get one win from bowl eligibility by winning at Cal. The Bears are 4.5-point favorites on Vegassportsbetting.com.
California (3-6, 2-4) would have to win out to qualify for a bowl. The Bears lost their second straight last week, falling 49-27 at Utah. Reggie Dunn set a school record with two 100-yard kickoff returns, and Utah’s defense forced three turnovers. Keenan Allen hauled in five catches to becomes Cal’s all-time career receptions leader, but the Bears could not overcome a slow start.
Utah intercepted Zach Maynard once and sacked him four times. Allen surpassed Geoff McArthur (202, 2000-04) to become Cal’s all-time receptions leader and now has 205 career catches, but he didn’t get on track until the game was well in hand. It was the widest margin of the defeat this year for the Golden Bears.
Washington upset No. 7 Oregon State 20-17. Bishop Sankey ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns, Travis Coons kicked a 30-yard field goal with 1:20 left and Washington took advantage of four interceptions from Oregon State’s Sean Mannion. Oregon State was trying for the first 7-0 start in school history. Instead it became the second AP Top 10 team to be upset by the Huskies at home this season. Washington knocked off then-No. 8 Stanford 17-13 in late September.
The Huskies had spent the past three weeks being blitzed by Oregon, USC and Arizona to a combined score of 128-52. They were left embarrassed and questioning themselves after the blowout by Arizona then called out in some media circles for their lack of toughness.
While weekday games are not terribly unusual (the Huskies will play three non-Saturday games and two on Friday this year), UW playing two games in a span of less than a week is unprecedented in modern history.
The last time that Washington played two games in a span of six or fewer days, as they will this Friday, was in 1944, when the UW played USC in a game in Fresno, Calif., on a Monday (Oct. 23) and then Cal the following Saturday in Berkeley.
Washington and California are the only two teams that have played in what is now the Pac-12 Conference in every season since the league was founded in 1916. The Huskies hold a 50-38-4 record in the all-time series, which began in 1904. Last year in Seattle, the Huskies held on a late goal line stand to preserve a 31-23 victory as Keith Price threw for three TDs in the Pac-12 opener.
Vegas trends: Huskies are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 meetings. Over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in California. Home team is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 meetings.
Place your NCAA college football bets at our online sportsbook!
