Free Week 1 Prediction: Golden Bears vs Tar Heels Odds
Looking for Cal Golden Bears vs. North Carolina Tar Heels free picks? Week 1 betting sees the Golden Bears taking on the Tar Heels on Saturday September 2nd at Kenan Memorial Stadium, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cappers Picks provides complimentary handicapping picks all NCAA football season long so stay tuned for more FREE college football predictions like this Northern Illinois Wyoming free pick.
College Football Handicapping: Week 1
(0-0) Cal Golden Bears vs. North Carolina Tar Heels (0-0)
Date: Saturday, September 2nd
Time: 12:20 pm EST
Venue: Kenan Memorial Stadium, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
NCAA Football Spread: North Carolina -11.5
NCAA Betting Total: OFF
Live CFB Odds
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Cal is looking to get back to relevance in the PAC 12 and have tabbed first time HC Justin Wilcox to do so. He is a well established defensive mind but he will have his work cut out for him in year 1.
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Larry Fedora has juiced up the offense since getting to North Carolina but they look like a program on the decline as they seek to replace a quarterback that went #2 in the NFL Draft.
Cal Golden Bears
Under the previous regime the offense spiked, enough to get a couple of signal callers drafted to the NFL.
Now the pendulum swings the other way but I am not optimistic about the immediate returns. It is tough when there are changes at the top.
Cal is not giving up on a souped up offense just because they have a former DC at coach. Beau Baldwin is a creative offensive mind and there is skill talent there, with an unproven quarterback.
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The defense was so bad it almost has to get better with Wilcox and Tim DeRuyter on the staff as DC. UNC will test them and it will be interesting to see what the early returns look like.
North Carolina Tar Heels
The offense has led the way to decent success for UNC of late but they will once again be breaking in a new signal caller. The last guy didn’t have a ton of experience and he turned out pretty good, second pick in the draft Mitch Trubisky.
Brandon Harris, who was given every opportunity to fail at LSU (and did) is the new top man. He is a fantastic athlete but this offense is made by throwing the ball. This will be an experiment in Larry Fedora’s QB magic and this will be our first look.
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The defense has seven starters and may have to carry the team some games. Gene Chizik was an established DC who had this unit pointed in the right direction. He left the program this offseason.
NCAA Football Handicapping Trends
- Golden Bears are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 road games.
- Over is 4-1 in Golden Bears last 5 games on grass.
- Golden Bears are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
- Tar Heels are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 non-conference games.
- Under is 4-0 in Tar Heels last 4 games overall.
- Under is 7-1 in Tar Heels last 8 games on grass.
Free Week 1 NCAA Football Pick
There are a lot of unknowns in this one, on both sides of the field. The linesmakers are certainly giving UNC a huge benefit of the doubt but I am not sure I can get there.
4* Free NCAA Betting Pick: North Carolina -11.5
Cal is likely to be pretty bad this season but this UNC is not going to steamroll through them. I just see the Tar Heels beating the Golden Bears by a TD per half.
Even though I am going with the home team here I am hoping that this line comes down, 10 would be so much nicer than the current number.
Week 1 Free Score Prediction: North Carolina 35 – California 21
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