NCAA F Betting - Arizona State Sun Devils at California Golden Bears
by Charles Jay
The California Golden Bears (3-1 SU & ATS) in a Pac-10 matchup that is scheduled to take place at 3:30 PM ET at Memorial Stadium (artificial turf).
BetUS NCAA Football Betting Odds: CALIFORNIA -9.5
Here are some of the NCAA football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* ASU has won 12 of its last 17 games SU
* ASU has covered one of its last five road games
* ASU has won four of its last six road games SU
* ASU has played its last five road games UNDER the total
* CAL has covered four of its last five games
* CAL has covered four of its last 12 games
* CAL has won four of its last five games SU
* CAL has played four of its last five games OVER the total
* CAL has won 16 of its last 18 home games SU
* CAL has played ten of its last 15 home games OVER the total
Also....
* CAL has won and covered four of the last five meetings
* CAL has covered four of the last five meetings as the home team
Let's stipulate that in winning 42-7 last week against Maryland, faltered a bit in last week's game (6 for 13) and was replaced by Nate Longshore, who was 9 for 13 with a pair of touchdowns. There was bad news that came out of the Colorado State game, however, as workhorse back Jahvid Best (421 yards) went out with a dislocated elbow and will be sidelined here. Of course, Shane Vereen may well be a star in waiting for Cal, as he has averaged EIGHT yards a pop and scored a couple of times in reserve duty.
Arizona State is hard to figure out. The Sun Devils were in the pre-season polls, but once again they are showing that they can beat up on a weak sister or two, but they are more or less dominated when moving up in class, as happened against Georgia a couple of weeks ago, when they were outgained by a 461-212 margin, an indication that the score was closer than the reality. This now makes back-to-back home losses to UNLV and Georgia. We know that Rudy Carpenter is capable of putting up some numbers (69%, 1183 yards), but the Sun Devils have struggled mightily with developing a running game (110th in the country), which leaves a hole, since this team had 144 yards on the ground in last year's 11-point win.
How good a coach is Dennis Erickson? Well, good enough to have won a national title. Good enough to have turned around a couple of programs (Oregon State, Arizona State) in recent years and making them more competitive. Is he good enough to get an extra effort out of his team when it has its back to the wall? Maybe not. We don't see fundamental advantages for ASU to avail itself of, and Cal has a strong revenge motive, having blown a 13-point lead in last year's contest. The Sun Devils have covered just four of their last 15 as a road underdog. We're going to go ahead and lay the points with Cal, the 9.5-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA college football betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: CALIFORNIA -9.5 **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
(Charles Jay of http://www.ebookies.com gives it more than the old college try as a contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)
