Golden Nuggets: Cal-ASU Score Predictions And Stanford-UW Open Thread

[Use this thread to discuss all the Stanford-UW Action!]

Well, the good news is we're favored to win this week. The bad news is that this game is going to be decided by the slightest of margins. This is the kind of game that will be decided by the little things, such as turnovers and penalties. That doesn't sound like a recipe for success for the Bears.

• Uncle Ted and Cousin Kev pick ASU to win.

Kevin Gemmell: If Taylor Kelly and Co. play like they did against Utah all season long, they will contend for the South. The Bears are in disarray, though they've won eight of the past nine meetings. I'll go with the hot team right now. Arizona State 35, California 27.

Ted Miller: The Sun Devils have played three good games at home and one bad game on the road. Can they take the next step and win on the road in a place they rarely do? I think yes. Arizona State 30, California 27.

• Faraudo picks a Bears win.

– Arizona State at Cal, 1 p.m. (FX): The Sun Devils are substantially improved, but none of their first four opponents has finished the game with its starting quarterback on the field. That’s just weird. For the Bears, this game means everything. A loss would drop them to 1-4 and pretty much kill even modest dreams. Cal 30, Arizona State 24.

• John Breech predicts a 31-27 Cal victory.
• Athlon's writers are split in their picks.

Arizona St (+2.5) at Cal

Cal, 28-24

Cal, 27-24

Arizona St, 31-27

Arizona St, 28-21

• ESPN provides its new triumvirate of simulation results. Teamrankings' results had Cal winning 24.5-23.5 on average. NumberFire predicted a 25.1-24.7 Cal win. Finally AccuScore predicted a 30.6-28.8 ASU victory. ASU won 53% of the AccuScore predictions. Here's an interesting result: 62% of the AccuScore games were decided by 10 or more points, with Cal wins accounting for 27.6% and ASU wins accounting for 34.4%. The last thing we need is a blowout loss to ASU at home. That would almost certainly bring an end to the Tedford era.
• While Cal was favored by 2 at the beginning of the week, the Bears have fallen to 1-point favorites or a pick 'em, depending on who's collecting bets. With an under at 54, this means Vegas expects the score to be 27-27, or a 27.5-26.5 Cal victory.

If we lose this game, we probably won't be on the winning end of these picks in any more games this season.

Football

• Several Cal players talk about how they're staying calm while fans are beginning to panic.
• Vince D'Amato made a slight mechanical adjustment which has allowed him to rebound from the fiasco at Ohio State. Although D'Amato's toe hit the turf on the first attempt at USC, his three successful field goals have given him some confidence.
• If you sat in the endzone at Memorial this season, you probably noticed the unnecessarily large metal obstructions used to hold up the nets on field goals and PATs. They have been taken down (with cranes, lifts, and torches, no less). Fans will now serve as the nets, although Bob Milano discourages us from taking stray footballs home as souvenirs.
• Brian Schwenke and Jeff Tedford discuss the Bears' offensive line woes.
• Pacific Takes has an amusing piece where all Pac-12 teams are matched with cars that fit their personalities.
• Athlon ranks the college coaches with the hottest seats. Tedford is #6 on the list.
• Cal is 9th in Wilner's Pac-12 power rankings.
• Todd Graham says the game against Cal will make or break ASU's season.
• Graham called the Cal O-line the best he's seen this season. By contrast, Coach M said the line's pass protection "sucks."