Oregon State vs. California – Week 8 Free Pick

Oregon State vs. California

High flying Oregon State and star quarterback Sean Mannion take to the road to play Cal in Berkley this Saturday. At 1-5, Cal looks to play spoiler against the Beavers who look to remain in the race for a Pac12 championship game berth.

The story for Oregon State this season has been the offense which ranks 1^st in the country in passing offense and 11^th in scoring averaging over 44 points per game. Quarterback Sean Mannion has already thrown for 25 touchdowns and just three interceptions, while wide receiver Brandin Cooks has 944 yards and 11 touchdowns. This is a deadly passing attack that’s capable of going toe-to-toe with any offense in the country. Defensively there have been some struggles as the Beavers rank 94^th in the nation in points against, but this offense is good enough to keep the Beavers in just about every game they play.

It’s been a brutal season for California football. The Golden Bears have failed to cover the spread in any of their first six games, and their only win was a seven-point victory as 31-point favorites over Portland State. The poor play has been spread across both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. California ranks 89^th in the nation in average points scored (24.8 points per game) while giving up 43.7 points to their opponents (125^th in the nation!).

What will happen: The stats suggest a lot of points will be scored in this game. Mannion and Cooks should have no problem working their way through the Cal defense, but something tells me the Beavers will have one eye focused on next week’s huge game with Stanford. Don’t expect Oregon State to be overly sharp while Cal’s passing game keeps them within the number.