Cal Sports Report

Cal Favored by a Touchdown Against Wake Forest

Golden Bears are the only ACC team winless in conference games, but oddmakers see them as favorites on the road

Jake Curtis

Cal wide receiver Trond Grizzell (83) runs after a catch against Oregon State
Cal wide receiver Trond Grizzell (83) runs after a catch against Oregon State / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
In this story:

Cal’s 44-7 victory over Oregon State must have impressed oddsmakers because the Golden Bears are favored by a touchdown in their road game against Wake Forest on Friday night.

Cal (4-4, 0-4 ACC) is still looking for its first ACC victory while Wake Forest (4-4, 2-2 ACC) has won twice in the conference.  And the Demon Deacons will be playing at home, which should be an advantage although Wake Forest is just 1-4 this season at its home stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Cal is listed as a 7.5-point favorite by Fan Duel, Bally Bet and Bet Rivers, while DraftKings sees Cal as a 7-point favorite over Wake Forest.

The Bears have been close in all four of their conference games in their first season in the ACC, but they lost all four by a combined margin of just nine points.

It has left Cal alone in last place in the 17-team ACC, but the Bears apparently will be favored in Friday’s game, which will be televised by the ACC Network.

Both Wake Forest and Cal will be coming off byes when they face each other on Friday night.  Cal is coming off its decisive victory over Oregon State on October 26, ending their four-game losing streak. Wake Forest edged Stanford 27-24 that same day for its second straight triumph.

Cal leads the ACC in scoring defense, yielding 17.25 point per game, while Wake Forest ranks 16th in the conference scoring defense, allowing 31.0 points per contest.

Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza had perhaps the best game of his college career against Oregon State, when he passed for a career-high 364 yards with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. He has completed better than 70 percent of his passes in each of the past three games.

It will be interesting to see whether the point spread for the Cal-Wake Forest game changes over the next few days.

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Published |Modified
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

Home/Football