{"id":9137,"date":"2010-10-15T21:14:50","date_gmt":"2010-10-16T02:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=9137"},"modified":"2010-10-15T21:14:50","modified_gmt":"2010-10-16T02:14:50","slug":"sports-picks-handicapping-california-vs-usc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/sports-picks-handicapping-california-vs-usc-9137\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports Picks: Handicapping California Vs USC"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Golden Bears at USC Trojans
\nSaturday, 10\/16\/10, 3:30 PM EDT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 USC -2.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 USC -2.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 55.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 54
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 USC -135 \/ California +115<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/a>
USC QB Matt Barkley needs a big game to snap the Trojans three-game losing streak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

California returns to the road for a conference matchup with the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.\u00a0 The Bears were able to snap a two-game losing streak with a dominating 35-7 home win over UCLA on Homecoming last week.\u00a0 Despite the up-and-down season, Cal has the same record it did last season after five games, but the difference being the team lost its first two conference games in 2009.\u00a0 The squad has won all three home games and dropped its two road contests.\u00a0 Both teams are unranked in this contest, marking the first time that neither team has been ranked for a USC-Cal contest since 2001.\u00a0 The team is 17-12 ATS over the last three years and the total is 16-13 Over\/Under in those contests.\u00a0 With this game being lined around the key number of 3, be sure to compare odds at multiple sportsbooks via our college football lines page.<\/p>\n

The Golden Bears are ranked first in the Pac-10 and eighth nationally in total defense in allowing just 254.8 yards per game.\u00a0 Cal also has a potent offense that is scoring 35.8 points per contest and is led by running back Shane Vereen.\u00a0 He is averaging 115.4 yards a game, a total that ranks second in the conference, but has rushed eight times for 10 yards in two career games versus the Trojans.\u00a0 Quarterback Kevin Riley has also had his difficulty in this series, completing 19-of-56 passes with no touchdowns and two interceptions.\u00a0 Turnovers may prove key in determining the outcome and the Golden Bears have forced at least one turnover in each of its five games.\u00a0 The team has capitalized in scoring 55 points off turnovers and has allowed opponents in the red zone just 11 times.<\/p>\n

USC is unranked after suffering back-to-back losses to Washington and Stanford, returning back to Southern California to start a three-game homestand.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re five seconds away from being 6-0,\u201d said head coach Lane Kiffin.\u00a0 The Trojans have lost on last-play field goals in the past two weeks and will now look to continue their home dominance of today\u2019s opponent, as the Golden Bears haven\u2019t won at the Coliseum since 2000.\u00a0 \u201cThe Coliseum is very loud and SC has great talent.\u00a0 That hasn\u2019t changed in one year,\u201d said Cal head coach Jeff Tedford.\u00a0 \u201cThey still have great players and they\u2019re very athletic.\u201d\u00a0 USC leads the all-time series 62-30-5 and has won 40 of the last 51 meetings.\u00a0 The squad is 8-13 ATS versus conference opponents and the total is 8-12 Over\/Under in those contests.<\/p>\n

The Trojans have been great offensively during the season, ranking 13th nationally in total offense, averaging 428.67 yards per game.\u00a0 Quarterback Matt Barkley has been leading the charge by completing 113 of 174 passes for 1,517 yards and 15 touchdowns.\u00a0 A main target emerged in the Stanford game for the sophomore quarterback, with freshman wide receiver Robert Woods catching 12 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns.\u00a0 Not much can be said on the other side of the ball, as the team ranks 100th in the nation in total defense, allowing 428.67 yards per game.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve struggled on defense in every part of the game,\u201d Kiffin said.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to do a better job playing, a better job coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettors will be interested in playing the Golden Bears due to their 18-7-1 ATS mark as a road underdog, while the Trojans are a solid 15-5 ATS in their last 20 games following a straight up loss.\u00a0 Maddux Sports has had a great run with their football handicapping this season.\u00a0 College football bettors are up over $11,000 and we are also on a 67% NFL picks streak.\u00a0 We have isolated a side in the Cal Vs USC game and know this should be an easy winner.\u00a0 Check out our weekly college football picks package that includes 7 winners for Saturday including our prediction on the California\/USC football game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California Golden Bears at USC Trojans Saturday, 10\/16\/10, 3:30 PM EDT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 USC -2.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 USC -2.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 55.5 Current Total:\u00a0 54 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 USC -135 \/ California +115 California returns to the road for a conference matchup with the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.\u00a0 The Bears […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[2958,3383,1082,473,3382,1089,740,3384,3316,3391,472,2957],"class_list":["post-9137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-california-golden-bears","tag-jeff-tedford","tag-kevin-riley","tag-lane-kiffin","tag-los-angeles-memorial-coliseum","tag-matt-barkley","tag-pac-10","tag-robert-woods","tag-shane-vereen","tag-sports-picks","tag-usc-trojans","tag-weekly-college-football-picks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9153,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9137\/revisions\/9153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}