Another glorious weekend of college football is upon us! It is Halloween weekend and ideally the Cal Bears will be giving USC fans in LA something to be scared about. Although Vegas and history says it will probably be the reverse. Elsewhere, we have big matchups between Washington and Utah that could determine whether the Pac-12 gets into the College Football Playoffs. Struggling Pac-12 teams like Oregon, Stanford, and Arizona try to get off the snide. Of course, there’s great games outside of the conference as well including a Top-15 ACC showdown.

Lets see how our staff that picks these games did last week.

A lot of success with the non-Pac games as everyone but Perry picked the Wild Card Lock correctly... but then Perry called the Penn State upset of Ohio State! In the conference there was some success with Colorado and Utah’s upset victories. Although Cal was a 1.5 point favorite the day of the game, it was a 3 point spread when we did the straw poll, so fair is fair and we have to call that one a push.

The Pac-12 weekend starts with Cal once again...

All of these are the VegasInsider’s average spreads as of October 24 (I adjusted one or two of the spreads so that all of them end with .5 to prevent pushes, and pushes in the Wild Card count as a correct pick) and may be different now, but I don’t have the time to look, sorry!

CAL @ USC

THURSDAY 7:30PM on ESPN

Cal (road team) is a 14.5 point underdog. Over/Under is 74.5

5 of us see Cal at least covering, but I’m not sure by the comments that anyone actually thinks we will win... but that’s not actually true as you will find out in the Upset of the Week portion of the article.

boomtho: Picked against Cal and we won. You're welcome world! But also, we are super banged up, and I can easily see USC getting to an early lead and running clock, depressing scoring opportunities.

KWBears: Cal's horrendous road defense will be its demise in this matchup.

Ruey Yen: Even if this is not the year when the Bears defeat the Trojans, it should be a close game (like almost all Cal Football games in 2016).

Berkelium97: This is a tough scenario for the Bears on 6 days' rest on the road against a USC team coming off a bye week. However, 14.5 is too large of a spread against a team as unpredictable and explosive as Cal.

Piotr T Le: There is a Polish song that goes "I am a romantic, but first and foremost I am a realist." This is where my brain overrides my heart. I hope I am wrong.

Nik Jam: Ehhh I don't think the 6-day break vs. 12-day break will result in a blowout loss, but I'm not sure if Cal has the personnel to break through. It's gonna be close.

#4 WASHINGTON @ #17 UTAH

SATURDAY 12:30PM on Fox Sports 1

Utah (home team) is a 10.5 point underdog. Over/Under is 51.

Despite the high spread, six of the eight staffers think Washington will stay undefeated and not keep it that close.

boomtho: UW only won by 24 last week... they're gonna be PISSED! (kidding... kind of). But I expect UW to suffocate an already limited Utah offense (last week's explosion not withstanding)

KWBears: U-Dub is trying to win every game with huge blowouts because they know that any slip-up will not treat them kindly in the polls.

Ruey Yen: I think UW would prevail by a single score.

Berkelium97: I find this to be the toughest pick of the week. UW has been dominant in all aspects except run defense. Guess who just ran for 360 yards last week? UW wins but Utah covers. (It mistakenly says UW in the above screenshot, I have corrected this mistake.)

Piotr T Le: 21-14 grinder.

PerryScope: UW will continue its dominance.

Nik Jam: Utah should be in striking distance of a big upset here! I think the line is disrespecting them.

ARIZONA STATE @ OREGON

SATURDAY 2PM on Pac-12 Network, Arizona, Oregon

Oregon (home team) is a 7.5 point favorite. Over/Under is 78.5

After the wild Cal game last week, the majority think the Ducks will finally get in the win column at home against an Arizona State team that hasn’t played well on the road.

boomtho: After seeing Oregon in person, they are not good. Why not take the points.

Nam Le: Oregon only because i don't think the ASU QBs are healthy yet

Ruey Yen: Encouraged by their 2nd half comeback last week, I think the Ducks will win this shootout by one score.

Berkelium97: Even though Oregon is winless in conference play, ASU is terrible away from Tempe. Oregon won't be able to run much against a stout ASU run defense, but Herbert should be able to carry the Ducks with the passing game.

Nik Jam: Oregon is due, there's no way they are this bad.

WASHINGTON STATE @ OREGON STATE

SATURDAY 7:45PM on ESPN2

Oregon State (home team) is a 13.5 point underdog. Over/Under is 57.5

Only Nam picks Oregon State to at least cover, the rest see a big time Cougar victory. This could be their opening to take first place in the Pac-12 North if Utah can pull the upset.

boomtho: Yeah, think the Cougs get it done. OSU is not good (/cries a little and dies inside)

Ruey Yen: I am surprised by the line here, WSU can probably drop 50 on OSU.

Nik Jam: Washington State will take advantage of the UW/Utah result regardless. They can't afford a loss.

STANFORD @ ARIZONA

SATURDAY 8PM on Fox Sports 1

Arizona (home team) is a 5.5 point underdog. Over/Under is 47.5

Like before, only Nam thinks Arizona will pull it off. A chance for him to pull away from the rest of the pack if he gets this one right.

boomtho: I was unlucky enough to have to sit through the Furd game in person. They are HORRIBLE and their fans suck - and yet, I think AZ is bad enough to lose this game by 1 TD+.

Ruey Yen: Not sure if McCaffrey is 100% yet, but even a potential Schadenfurd will make me want to watch this struggle.

Berkelium97: Arizona is atrocious this year. The Lobsterbacks should win this one.

Nik Jam: Stanford is underachieving, but Arizona is worse.

WILD CARD: LOCK OF THE WEEK

Georgia +6.5 (@ #14 Florida)

#8 Baylor -3 (@ Texas)

#7 Nebraska +7.5 (@ #11 Wisconsin)

#15 Auburn -2.5 (@ Ole Miss)

#3 Clemson -3 (@ #12 Florida State)

Other

Seems obvious to pick #8 Baylor over unranked Texas right with only a 3 point spread (which hasn’t moved all that much, 3.5 now) right? Well, five of us think so. Clemson and Florida also get some love.

Ruey Yen: (Florida) "Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" is a much much better name than "River City Showdown"

Nik Jam: (Florida) Gotta support Jack Del Rio’s son Luke! #RaiderNation

WILD CARD: UPSET OF THE WEEK

South Carolina (13 point underdog vs. #18 Tennessee) [3]

Cal (14.5 point underdog @ USC) [3]

Wyoming (14.5 point underdog vs. #13 Boise State) [3]

Oregon State (15.5 point underdog vs. Washington State) [3]

Marshall (16.5 underdogs @ Southern Miss) [3]

Michigan State (21.5 point underdog vs. #2 Michigan) [3]

Virginia (27.5 point underdog @ #5 Louisville) [4]

Kansas (40.5 point underdog @ #16 Oklahoma) [5]

All 8 of the above teams, and any others, lose. [1]

Other

I allowed Cal and Oregon State to be options despite being in-conference. Of course, half of the staff bites and picks the Bears. South Carolina, Michigan State, and a rare “Other” gets selected! No one picks “None of the above” and given that every single week there’s been an upset among the choices I lay out, that seems wise.

Ruey Yen: (Cal) Woohoo, I can earn 5 valuable CGB pick-em points if our sturdy Golden Bears can conquer U$C! (Well, three, they aren't that big an underdog)

Berkelium97: (Cal) Sure, why not.

PerryScope: (Cal) The line is 16.5 now. I think we score enough points (42) to come out on top.

Nik Jam: Michigan State will be revved up at home against their in-state rivals.

CLOSING

Thursdays are a tough day for me as that’s when I have grad school class, but I was nonetheless able to finish this article. I hope all of you can have a successful day at work or school or retirement or whatever, and then kick back and watch a Cal victory! Although for those of us who had to get up super early, hope we can stay up for the end, and that its an end worth staying up for. Go Bears!