Texas Longhorns vs. California Bears Betting Preview
Where: Memorial Stadium— Berkeley, California
When: Saturday, September 17, 2016, 10:30 PM ET
Line: Texas Longhorns (-8) vs. California Bears (+8) – view all NCAA Football odds and lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Writer’s Pick: Texas Longhorns (-8)
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Betting on the Texas Longhorns (-8)
The season’s just started, and it’s too early to be overly impressed by the Longhorns’ fiery beginning. They’ve yet to test themselves on the road, where they went just 1-4 last year. This coming Saturday’s clash with California will be the first chance for us to see find out if Texas can find success in a hostile environment.
A win for the Longhorns would be pretty huge, considering that it would mark their first 3-0 start since 2012 and potentially place them in the top-10 of the AP poll next week. With that in mind, expect a lot of energy and aggression, particularly on the defensive side, from Texas. Strong’s group, after all, is going to be mightily tested by the Golden Bears’ superior passing game that’s second-best in the nation.
Well, the Longhorns do have the weapons to match up to that. They have two reliable quarterbacks in Shane Buechele (starter) and in back-up Tyrone Swoopes, who went bananas with three rushing touchdowns during the thrilling win over the Fighting Irish, to lead their dynamic offense (466.5 total yards per game).
Texas is 4-6 ATS in its last 10 road games overall.
Betting on the California Bears (+8)
The California Golden Bears split their first two games of the season. In the opener, both the offense and defense were solid enough to thrash Hawaii, 51-31. But it was the opposite in last week’s setback to San Diego State, as they turned the ball over four times, three of which were interceptions, and failed to get the necessary stops.
Clearly, scoring hasn’t been a problem for the Golden Bears, but there’s work to be done on defense. Limiting the 11th-ranked Longhorns to at least below 30 points would be a very tough task, especially when you consider how impressive their offense has been. It’s fair to say that things don’t really look good for California on this side of the field.
Offensively though, the Golden Bears should be fine with Davis Webb in charge. The senior quarterback has passed for nearly 1000 yards with nine touchdowns in a span of two games this season. He can’t, however, afford to be as careless as he was in the loss to the Aztecs, who got three picks off the former Texas Tech starter.
California, which beat Texas, 45-44, last year at Austin, is 5-5 SU and 4-6 ATS in its last 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
Texas (-8) squeaks out a 42-39 victory.
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