Golden Nuggets: Cal-Arizona State Score Predictions

Happy Turkey Day, Cal fans!  While we are all undoubtedly thankful to have wrapped up bowl eligibility I think we all, in the spirit of stuffing ourselves silly, would like just one more win.  Will the Bears deliver?  Opinions are mixed.

• It is with great regret that Ted Miller must pick a winner for tomorrow's game.  He chooses the Bears.

California 28, Arizona State 24: Picking California on the road seems stupid, but how can a person pick Arizona State to win at this point? I did the previous two weeks and see what happened.Yes, I am quitting the Sun Devils.

• Both Yahoo/Rivals experts (and a majority of their readers) pick the Sun Devils to win.
• At the beginning of the year 78.8% of Pac-12 fans picked ASU to win.  Cal fans give the Bears a 68.3% chance of winning (up 15.3% from the summer!).
• Wilner picks the Bears to cover but picks ASU to win.

CAL (plus-4.5) at ARIZONA STATE (Friday): The Bears are oh-fer in conference road games this season and have only won one in the past two years. But ASU has collapsed with three consecutive losses — two as double-digit favorites. Two bad options here. Pick: Cal.

After the jump Tedford comments on Arizona's hiring of RichRod, Shane Vereen scores his first NFL touchdown, and men's basketball posts a spectacular, soul-crushing, holiday-cheer-squashing loss to Missouri.

Football

• What should we keep an eye on during tomorrow's game?  Will Arizona State have any motivation whatsoever?
• Maynard continues to become more and more comfortable with running the offense.
• Tedford, Ernest Owusu, and and Trevor Guyton have high praise for freshman defensive end Mustafa Jalil.  Here's a fun tidbit on Arizona's hiring of RichRod:

Tedford was happy for newly hired Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez. "Rich is actually one of my good friends in the coaching profession," Tedford said. "Him and Rita, his wife, are good people." Tedford said the spread offense that Rodriguez utilized at West Virginia and Michigan will be similar to preparing for Oregon. Tedford visited Rodriguez at West Virginia a few years back hoping to absorb some knowledge of the spread offense. Likewise, Rodriguez dropped in at Cal headquarters last summer. "He might be regretting that now," Rodriguez quipped to Arizona reporters.   

• The Bears sit at 8th (just behind ASU) in Wilner's Pac-12 power rankings.
• Stiglich has some notes from Tuesday's practice.  This was the Bears' first day back at practice, as Tedford gave them an extra day off to get some rest following the hard-hitting Stanford game.
• Stiglich reports from Wednesday's practice.  David Wilkerson returned to practice and is questionable for Friday's game.  Chris McCain is still out with concussion symptoms.  He may or may not return for the bowl game.
• CalBears.com checks in on Bears in the Pros, including Shane Vereen who scored his first NFL touchdown on Monday!