Cal opens as 1.5 point favorites to Texas, line moves up to 7 points

Who would have thought this two years ago. Cal is going into Austin this weekend as slight favorites over the famed Texas Longhorns. The line opened at 1.5 points, and it's now settled at around 3.5 points. UPDATE: In the hour since I posted it, it's moved up to 7.

Let's take this time to look at Texas. They started their season against Notre Dame pretty meekly, bowing down 38-3 without a semblance of offense to be found (with not much help from the defense). Texas rebounded to beat Rice 42-28 behind good special teams plays and a host of turnovers,  but it was their defense that struggled to get off the field and allowed the Owls to run play after play after play.

That being said, despite the early season struggles, the Longhorns should not be underestimated. They took a ten win UCLA team to the wire last year, they held a high flying Baylor offense to 28 points (although they only scored seven), and they shut down Air Raid variants in Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and West Virginia in a span of three weeks last year.

Texas (even this down Texas team) is one to always worry about based on their top recruiting talent. When they put it together on a given week, they have the capability to beat anyone. Their issue is consistency. Cal needs to bring their A-game and pounce on them early if they want to keep the positive momentum of the first two weeks flowing.