Cal vs Oregon St.

I have spent the last couple hours reading every available preview of the Cal vs Oregon St. game and the general consensus is that the game will be a blow out. Most have Cal scoring above 40 for the 4th straight game and OSU at somewhere in the 20 point range.

My prediction based on stats and logic is 49 - 21, Cal whips the Beavers in Oregon just like 2 years ago. But my gut says that it will be closer. The Bears, every year in the Tedford era, tend to struggle against one of the Oregon teams. I think because OU is ranked and coming up in the schedule they will not be overlooked. I don't think that OSU will upset Cal this Saturday but I think the score might be closer than expected.

OSU has an excellent ground game with the most underrated back in the leauge, Yvenson Bernard. If he played for USC he would be on some heisman lists with the numbers he has put up. Emmanuel Moody, USC new "sensational" running back, gains 80 yards in a game and it is the second coming of Reggie Bush. Bernard has a phenomenal year last year with an Ayoob like QB and gets little if any preseason all league consideration. But I digress, after all this blog is not the Bernard for Heisman site.
ASU's back up fullback/running back rushes for nearly 200 yards on us last week. I know that the defense was set up to stop the pass but when did missed tackles become the result of pass defense. Bernard is a much better back and I hope that he does not set the pace of the game for the Beavers.

Cal will still win this game with their offense. This is a good chance for us to see Cal play four quarters of football and get a good look at the run defense. With Matt Moore behind center you can bet that the box will be stacked with linemen and linebackers all day.

In the end, taking into account all the tangential factors that defy logic, score of the game should be 42-28. I will be furiously reloading my yahoo scoreboard to keep track of the game as it is not televised this week.

(Side Note: I saw Columbia vs Cornell or some crappy game like that last week in New York. It made me wonder, if these Ivy League schools with their midget football can get on TV, how hard is it to get a camera up to OSU to show some Bear love. Was TBS too busy showing reruns of The American President - which is actually a very good movie and the premise for West Wing, the greatest non-college football show on TV - to show the game.)