We’ve got some PAC-12 after dark to take us home late night on a college football Saturday in Week 1! Eh, or ACC versus Independent … whatever this counts as these days. Hey, it’s still a fun matchup with Cal going up against Oregon State at 10:30pm ET on August 30.
The Golden Bears return and transfer in a solid offensive line, and the defense should also be decent. However, I’ve been down on them all summer due to the lack of skill position players. All of the top rushers depart, including star running back Jaydn Ott, who transferred to Oklahoma. All of the top pass catchers also left Cal’s roster, leaving the quarterback in a pretty tough spot.
The belief was that Ohio State transfer Devin Brown would win this job, giving Cal some upside from a once highly touted recruit that has experience playing in a big time program. But surprisingly, Justin Wilcox opted to go with a true freshman at the position — Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. That’s a lot to type, so let’s call him JKS.
The quarterback announcement was somewhat of a stunner, as the Golden Bears have to be going with the plan of developing the freshman and attempting to unlock his upside. Given the state of the program, that decision is understandable. However, there have to be some growing pains for a true freshman QB playing with very limited help around him at WR and RB.
And it’s not like Cal gets to start the season off with a layup at home — it has to travel to one of the toughest places to play in the country in Corvallis. Trent Bray took over the program at Oregon State last season and went 4-3 at home in a rebuilding year. But prior to that, the Beavers were on a 17-2 run at home over the last three seasons.
Maalik Murphy transfers into the program at QB from Duke, giving the Beavers some veteran stability at signal caller. Murphy will have plenty of weapons to work with, as both the RB room and WR room improved significantly with transfers, and bring back notable talent. Oregon State is also expected to take a step forward on defense after a down year, creating a tough atmosphere for JSK to make his first start.
I had been eyeballing siding with the Beavers in this game, but once the true freshman news came out, that was enough for me to fire on Oregon State to win this game. Experience and home field should tip the scales in this one.
CFB Pick: Oregon State ML (-148) 1-unit
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