The Colorado Buffaloes are coming off a humbling loss at the hands of Washington State. They will need to be a lot better on both sides of the football in order to bounce back against the California Golden Bears this Saturday afternoon. The Buffaloes expected to have one of the better offenses in school history heading in to the season. However, they were so bad on Saturday that head coach Mike McIntyre decided to bench starting quarterback Steven Montez at the half. Montez is expected to be back under center for this week’s game but another poor performance could lead to more significant changes for Colorado moving forward.
As for the Golden Bears, they’re off a tough double overtime loss to Arizona but they fought hard. Another performance like that should get them a win this week on the road in Colorado.
Details
Odds: Colorado -4
Date & Time: Saturday October 28th, 2017 – 2:00 PM ET
Location: Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado
Broadcast: Pac-12
Reasons To Bet On The California Golden Bears
California hit a high for the season with a shocking 37-3 win over Washington State a couple of weeks ago. However, the Buffaloes followed that surprising victory with a 45-44 double-overtime loss to the Arizona Wildcats that sent them back down to .500. Colorado’s 4-4 record includes a 1-4 mark against Pac-12 opponents and it won’t be easy to improve on that mark on the road this weekend. The Bears can’t afford for sophomore quarterback Ross Bowers to turn the ball over. Bowers threw two touchdowns and two interceptions in last week’s loss to Arizona and is up to 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on the season. California could push its way back in to bowl contention with wins over Colorado and Oregon State. However, they can’t afford another letdown on the road this week.
Reasons To Bet On The Colorado Buffaloes
Montez and the Buffaloes pass attack really struggled in last week’s loss to Washington State. Montez completed just 4-of-21 pass attempts for 21 yards before McIntyre made the decision to bench him. Freshman Sam Noyer didn’t fare any better as he completed just 7-of-18 attempts for 53 yards. Montez is still Colorado’s best option so they need him to produce in order for the offense to click. Meanwhile, running back Phillip Lindsay had 29 carries for 98 yards in last week’s loss. There is a good chance he will have another substantial workload this week as Colorado attempts to establish the run early on. The Buffaloes defense will also be asked to step up as they attempt to keep Bowers off balance. If Colorado could win the turnover battle then it will go a long way towards helping their chances to win this game.
Outlook
We’ve seen plenty of movement on this line as California opened at +4. However the line dropped as low as +3 but is now back up to +4. Clearly, there are some split opinions on which way to go. In terms of the total, we’ve seen similar movement: plenty of it but it hasn’t moved far. It opened up at 52.5 and while it’s dropped as low as 51.5, it’s now up to 52.
California looks like a team that’s turned the corner. They beat Washington State two weeks ago. While that game was probably more a result of Washington State being half asleep, it was still a big win. And then they carried that momentum over into last week where they nearly beat a quality Arizona team. This team looks like they are really started to get it under head coach Justin Wilcox. Now they’re on the road, which is a test, but they’re facing a Colorado team that’s really become unglued.
Meanwhile, Colorado had no answer for the Cougars last week and it’s unlikely they will be able to fix all of their issues on offense in just seven days. California has struggled against conference opponents this season but should find a way to get the job done versus the Buffaloes on the road this weekend.
Prediction: California +4
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