Cal Should Beat Ole Miss In Low Scoring Game

How good are the Cal Bears, who jumped into the Top 25 this week at No. 23? As good as the team that knocked off  No. 10 powerhouse Washington in Seattle two weeks ago? Or closer to the flawed team that couldn't polish off a so-so mid major, North Texas, in Berkeley until the fourth quarter last week?


We'll have a better idea of what kind of team thus is after their road battle against Ole Miss this Saturday. Let's face it. Ole Miss isn't much. They are a low level SEC team predicted to finish under .500. But even a bad SEC team can be trouble for most teams outside that tough conference. The Rebels are just 2-1, losing to unimpressive Memphis, then whipping lousy Arkansas before staggering to a 40-29 win over inferior SE Louisiana last week. Ole Miss boasts no stars and gets average quarterbacking from Matt Corral.


Ole Miss is nowhere near as good as the Washington team that Cal beat on the road. The Bears should top this team, but as usual, it won't be easy. Ole Miss doesn't have a potent passing game to challenge Cal's vaunted secondary and the Rebel rush isn't going to put a big dent in the Bears' sturdy defensive front seven. The Rebs won't score much but neither will Cal, which is weighed down by a weak offense that averages a paltry 159 yards passing per game and rarely converts third downs. It's a big deal if the Bears score score more than 24, so it should be a low-scoring game. That kind of game is often decided by a turnover, which\ favors the Bears, who conquered the crippling turnover habit that plagued them last season. Fumbles, though,  have haunted Ole Miss this year.


Look for Cal, bolstered by some effective power running, to come out on top in a close one.



Predictions:

UCLA, off to an embarrassing 0-5 start last season, is well on its way to duplicating that misery this season. They are 0-3 and will be 0-4 after this weekend. They are in Pullman about to get crushed by Washington State, a 19-point favorite. The Bruins, who give up 279 passing yards per game, are about to become the latest victims of red-hot Cougar QB Anthony Gordon who, leading the nation's best passing attack, has passed for at least 420 yards in each of WSU's three wins. The hapless Bruins don't have a chance in this one.


Ranked No. 10, Utah, arguably the best team in the Pac 12, is a 3.5 favorite to beat USC at the Coliseum Friday night. Utah's ace in the hole is a monster offensive line which hasn't given up a sack this season and opens huge holes for RB Zack Moss, the best runner in the league. This is a team that rarely makes mistakes. So far, in three wins, they have only one turnover, while SC, this season, has eleven. They have had one common opponent, BYU. USC  lost to the Cougars in OT last week while Utah had no trouble with them, winning 30-12. Utah has never won at the Coliseum. That eight-game losing streak ends Friday night.