Week 1: Golden Bears vs Wildcats Spread
College Football Week 1 betting action sees the California Golden Bears taking on the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday, Aug. 30 at Ryan Field. Cappers Picks provides free NCAA handicapping tips all season long.
Cal may be a member of one of the toughest conferences in all of college football, but they’re more than a step or two away from being competitive. Northwestern enters this contest as the favorites, and chances are, that prediction will come to fruition when the clock strikes zero.
College Football Lines
When: Saturday, Aug. 30 2014 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: Ryan Field
TV: ABC/ESPN2
NCAA Football Spread: Northwestern -11
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CAL
The California Golden Bears went an abysmal 1-11 in 2013. If the news gets even worse, which it does, the team went 0-9 in conference play, and while that’s not the worst news based on the level of competition, that’s hardly a record worth boasting regardless of which conference you play in.
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The good news for California is that is has a prolific passing game to its name. Last season, the Golden Bears accumulated 331.4 tossing yards per contest, which totaled the 11th-best mark in the entire country.
The problem is that those yards rarely converted into points. The Bears averaged just23 points per game in 2013, which was 98th in the country.
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Even worse, defense was a far bigger problem. Cal Berkeley gave up an astronomical 45.9 points per contest to its opponents, which was the 125th mark in the nation.
Northwestern
Northwestern, despite being favored in this game, didn’t exactly put together a strong showing in 2013. In fact, the team lost seven of its final eight contests to close out the year, with the only win being a three-point victory in the final week against the Illinois Fighting Illini.
If for no other reason (although there are plenty of reasons), Northwestern is a safe bet here considering its competition.
California is 2-10 in its last 12 against the spread, and from a rankings standpoint, Northwest is 79th in the nation while the Golden Bears are 114th.
The bad news is that the Wildcats were 1-6 ATS at home this past season. Luckily, their counterparts were the worse team, giving Northwestern the edge.
CFB football handicapping trends
- CAL are 1-11 ATS in their last 12 games on grass.
- CAL are 6-20 ATS in their last 26 games overall.
- Under is 6-2-1 in CAL last 9 games overall.
- NW are 1-9 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
- Under is 9-3 in NW last 12 non-conference games.
Week 1 College Football Betting Prediction
Don’t expect this game to be a high-scoring game from either side, but the truth is that Northwestern will put together a decent showing, while California isn’t going to put up much of a fight.
The Wildcats are 11-point favorites entering this contest, and they should prove to win by that total, if not more, when the game comes to an end. California has a lot to prove before we pick it in any game this year, and that includes the first game of the 2014 season.
ATS Prediction: Northwestern -11
Final Week 1 Score: Northwestern 27 – California 7
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