Arizona Must Prevent Bounce as NCAAF Betting Faves Versus Cal

The Arizona Wildcats must prevent falling victim to the dreaded “bounce” as NCAAF betting favorites versus the Cal Golden Bears this Saturday, Sept. 25th.

‘Zona beat the then-#9 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes last Saturday as 1-point home dogs.  The Wildcats looked good against a tough Big Ten team, but now they face the California Golden Bears who will be looking to capitalize on a Wildcat squad that might suffer a let down after their big victory last Saturday.

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It’s California vs. Arizona in a big Pac 10 matchup!

California Golden Bears at #16 Arizona Wildcats

Where:  Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona

When:  September 25th, 2010 at 10:00 pm EST

TV:  TBD

NCAAF Betting Lines

California Golden Bears                     +6 ½ -110

Arizona Wildcats                                -6 ½ -110

The NCAAF betting point spread trends favor the Wildcats in this game.

• The Arizona Wildcats are 6 and 1 ATS in their last 7 games at home.

• The Arizona Wildcats are 4 and 1 ATS in their last 5 games overall.

• The California Golden Bears are 7 and 16 in their last 23 games on grass.

• The California Golden Bears are 6 and 14 ATS in their last 20 games on the road.

I’m surprised because usually at this time during the college football season the Cal Golden Bears would be ranked in the Top 10 and still being called one of the most underrated teams in NCAAF.  There would also be a lot of talk about how great of a coach Jeff Tedford is, genius maybe, and then the Bears would visit somebody and get blown out 38 to 3 or something close to that.

They may still get blown out 38 to 3 but instead of being talked about as a possible Pac 10 champion in 2010, the Bears aren’t even ranked.  In fact, the NCAAF betting prediction from many football handicappers is that the Arizona Wildcats are going to cover the spread in their game against Cal this Saturday.

It’s hard to argue against those predictions.  Cal looked awesome against Colorado on Sept. 11th.  They destroyed the Buffaloes 52 to 7 and appeared to be an underdog team to win the Pac 10, but then they traveled to Nevada and got blown out by the Wolf Pack 52 to 31. 

Don’t get me wrong; the Wolf Pack isn’t a bad team.  They’ve dominated their 3 opponents so far this season, but Cal was a 2 ½ point favorite in that game.  The Golden Bears were practically action betted out of the State of Nevada. 

Cal’s defense was the issue.  Although it looked great against UC-Davis and Colorado, it laid down against Nevada.  Cal’s D allowed the Wolf Pack to rack up 497 total yards including 316 yards on the ground.  Now, the Golden Bears travel to Tucson to face an Arizona offense that averages 42.3 points per game and accumulated 366 yards against one of the best defenses in all of college football last Saturday.

‘Zona’s D isn’t bad either.  The Wildcats did give up 27 points to Iowa but a lot of the Hawkeye drives kept going because of Wildcat penalties.  Arizona was flagged 12 times for 103 yards.

Unless that happens again, I just don’t see California outscoring the Wildcats in this game and that’s what it’s going to take for them to upset the ‘Cats.  I don’t expect Arizona to suffer a let down because they understand what’s at stake and are loaded with fast players on both their offense and defense.

The NCAAF betting online odds say that the Wildcats win this game by at least 7 points.  I’m not arguing against those odds.  I’m backing Arizona to cover the spread in this game. 

NCAAF Betting Pick:  Arizona Wildcats -6 ½ -110

Check out NCAAF betting latest lines for this week’s games by clicking this link!

Sources:  espn.com, usatoday.com, covers.com