Oregon State Beavers (+7) @ California Golden Bears Pick: This one is a little weird to me, because when you break down these two teams, I think it’s overwhelming that the best team between the two is Oregon State. I know the Beavers are on the road in this one, but they’ve played well away from Beaver-town this season, losing by a score to USC and beating up ASU outright. They’ve only lost to pretty good teams like USC, Cincinnati, and Arizona. They are impressive, and the Rodgers brothers are special, while running back Jacquizz gets most of the publicity, both are great college players. I’d say James is very underrated. Quizz had over 200 yards rushing and receiving last week, but James also tallied 120 yards of total offense against UCLA. The two are key players in the Beavers’ success.

Cal’s wins are unimpressive, that’s the bottom line. The best team they’ve beaten is either Arizona State or Minnesota – maybe UCLA? And they’ve been obliterated by good competition as Oregon and USC combined to smoke the Bears 72-6 in back to back weeks.

The Beavers have been playing their best football of the season over the last two weeks, winning 3 of their last 4 including a 10 point W over Stanford. Sean Canfield has been awesome as the team’s quarterback, already throwing for over 2000 yards with 11 touchdowns while completing 69% of his passes. His ability to stretch the field with his arm has opened up a lot for the Beavers rushing attack, the strongest aspect of their offense. The Beavers have beaten Cal 8 of the last 10 games, winning at Cal in each of the last 4 visits to California.