The Ole Miss Rebels and California Golden Bears are both 2-0. Both records might be somewhat surprising, but these records might be more a reflection of the opponents they have played than their own bona fides. Now that they are preparing to play each other, Ole Miss and California will learn a lot more about themselves. Which team will undergo a learning process and yet still come out with a victory?
Details
Odds: Golden Bears -3.5
Date & Time: Saturday, September 16, 10:30 PM ET
Location: Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, CA
Broadcast: ESPN
Reasons To Bet On The Ole Miss Rebels
The Rebels have Shea Patterson, and Cal doesn’t. Patterson has thrown for over 400 yards in each of his first two games, totaling 918 yards. Ole Miss scored at least 45 points in each of those two games. This shows that even though Ole Miss changed offensive coordinators, and even though offensive mastermind Hugh Freeze was booted from his position for numerous scandals on his watch, the Rebels still have a good plan on offense and a good quarterback who can execute that plan.
When one considers that California’s defense was one of the worst in college football last season, and still gave up 30 points to an average North Carolina offense in Week 1 of this season, Ole Miss and Patterson have a very vulnerable target. This Ole Miss team is an incomplete team, but Cal just might be worse. Neither one of these teams will threaten to win a conference or division championship, but in this competition, Ole Miss might have the matchups it wants on offense.
Reasons To Bet On The California Golden Bears
The Golden Bears are the bigger surprise in this matchup, the team which is playing a better brand of football. While Ole Miss has played a Sun Belt team (South Alabama) and an FCS team, Cal played an FCS team (Weber State) and a power conference team, North Carolina. That power conference opponent was played on the road. Few gave Cal a reasonable chance of winning that game on the East Coast, but the Golden Bears scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to win, 35-30.
New starting quarterback Ross Bowers threw for over 360 yards against the Tar Heels, completing four touchdown passes. The debut went far better than most anticipated. What this says is that new California offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin, who had been the very successful head coach at FCS powerhouse Eastern Washington, has a very good understanding of how to work with his players and devise and offense which can enable California to remain potent. The Golden Bears were strong on offense last year. They just needed to be moderately better on defense. Against North Carolina, they were. They did not give up an endless supply of big plays. North Carolina might have some flaws on offense, but the Golden Bears were playing a 12:20 p.m. game, 9:20 a.m. Pacific time. The fact that Cal’s body clocks held up so well shows that this team was prepared. It bodes well for a game in which Ole Miss will play at 9:30 p.m. Central time, which is not what the Rebels are used to.
Outlook
It’s hard to get a good read on Cal in this game. Yes, their win at North Carolina was impressive but let’s remember that the Tar Heels really blew that game. On top of it, they are 0-2 now. We could look back at the end of the year and come to the realization that North Carolina was never that good and Cal’s win was not that impressive. After all, it’s not as if Cal destroyed Weber State last week. It was a mild 33-20 win when the odds makers expected them to do more. They were favored by 25 points.
This is a volatile game which is hard to call, but in an early-season game, it is logical and reasonable to trust the team with the better quarterback. Bowers for Cal is good, but Patterson for Ole Miss is better. That’s a strong reason to go with the Rebels here.
Prediction: Rebels +3.5
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