Free College Football Picks – Cal Tries To Win On The Road At Washington State

The California Golden Bears have had a miserable 2010 season away from home. They’ll try to win at least one road game before their season ends. Here are some free college football picks along with a preview.

California Golden Bears @ Washington State Cougars
Saturday, November 6th – 4:05 PM ET 
Martin Stadium, Pullman, WA 
Broadcast: FSN-NW, FCS-Pacific
College Football Odds: California -14, Washington State +14

Total: 53.5

The California Golden Bears have been the Bad News Bears away from their home in Berkeley. Coach Jeff Tedford’s team has been outscored 145-61 on the road this year, for a total of 84 points and an average of 21 points per game. When one realizes that Cal lost a 10-9 decision at Arizona, the Bears have lost three of their four road games by an average of just under 28 points per game. This week, however, it will be highly surprising if Cal can’t win a road game. The Golden Bears face a Washington State program which has lost 15 consecutive Pac-10 games, hasn’t defeated a FBS school in more than a year, and is last nationally in total defense.

[Off topic: by the way, do you want to get a 55% bonus on your first deposit here at BetOnline? Find out more exciting details HERE.]

In other words, it’s a perfect place to break in a new starting quarterback. For Cal, that new field general is 6-foot-5, 232-pound Brock Mansion, a junior who has thrown 39 passes in his career, 14 of those coming last week at Oregon State when he replaced senior Kevin Riley, a veteran who got knocked out of the 35-7 loss in the first quarter due to a knee injury.

Free College Football Picks: What California Has To Do To Win

Cal has to give Mansion a comfort zone in this game and make sure that it doesn’t turn the ball over. The clear gateway toward a Washington State Cougars victory is for Mansion to cough up multiple turnovers in a very shaky performance, so the Golden Bears have to simplify their game plan and establish running back Shane Vereen as much as humanly possible. Cal has bigger bodies up front than Washington State does, so the visitors have to lean on WSU’s defensive line and be disciplined enough to pound the ball between the tackles. The passing game should be an occasional change of pace for the Golden Bears in this game; it shouldn’t be used as a crutch. When Cal does pass, Mansion needs to be taught to throw to his check-downs and not do anything irresponsible.

Free College Football Picks: What Washington State Has To Do To Win

Though Washington State’s first priority will indeed be to disrupt Cal’s new quarterback, the Cougars will also have to do something on offense after getting shut out last weekend at Arizona State. Washington State had been improving throughout the month of October, playing Stanford and Arizona with considerable toughness and also staying in the ring with Oregon for nearly three full quarters. However, the string of encouraging performances came to an end in a 42-0 loss to Arizona State. This team’s confidence has taken a hit, and so WSU’s offense needs to set the tone with an early scoring drive. If the Cougs’ passing game with quarterback Jeff Tuel doesn’t ring up a touchdown in the first 20 minutes of this game, Cal’s offense won’t have to do very much on Saturday. Wazzu needs to land a big blow early in the game and make the Bears – a terrible road team – doubt themselves once again.

Outlook & Free College Football Picks

California Golden Bears is a horrible road team, but Washington State shows signs of hitting a wall after playing hard for much of the season. The Cougars, even in a game against a backup quarterback for Cal, will not be able to sustain a quality effort for four quarters. Take the Bears minus the points in Pullman, Washington. 

Free College Football Picks: California -14