Cal Is a Two-Score Favorite Against Oregon State

Golden Bears will try to bounce back after another heartbreaking loss. Two betting sites have Cal as the betting favorite against the Beavers

Oregon State quarterback Gevani McCoy hands off to running back Anthony Hankerson / Kevin Neri/Statesman Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Even though Cal is riding a four-game streak, including Saturday's one-point loss to North Carolina State when the Bears were 9.5-point favorites, two betting sites list Cal as a two-score favorite over Oregon State in Saturday afternoon's game in Berkeley.

FanDuel lists Cal as an 8.5-point favorite over the Beavers, and the Action Network has Cal as a 9-point favorite in that game.

Cal running back Jaydn Ott, a first-team all-Pac-12 pick last year, has missed the past two games with an injury and remains questionable for this nonconference games against the Beavers. It's also unclear whether two starting Cal offensive linemen -- Sioape Vatikani and T.J. Session -- will be available for that game.

Presumably, the betting sites ares banking on the fact that Cal (3-4, 0-4 Pac-12) has had a chance to win each of the last four games. The Bears margin of defeat in those four games combined is a mere nine points. And that margin of defeat is just four points over the past three games.

The question is whether the Bears can bounce back after such a disappointing string of losses. Cal has rebounded each of the past three weeks to produce a performance good enough to win each games. But the Bears have come up just short each time.

On Saturday it was a missed 28-yard field goal by freshman kicker Derek Morris with 1:34 left in the game that ruined the Bears' chances against the Wolfpack (4-4), who ended a two-game losing streak with the 24-23 victory over the Bears.

Oregon State (4-3) is not riding high either, though. The Beavers lost their second straight game on Saturday, falling at home to UNLV 33-25. Oregon State had the ball at the UNLV 6-yard line with three seconds left with a chance to tie with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. But Genavi McCoy's pass on the final play of the game went incomplete, giving UNLV the victory.

Oregon State and Washington State are the only two members of the Pac-12 this season, after the other team teams left for the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the ACC.

The Beavers are playing an independent schedule this season with seven of its 2024 opponents being members of the Mountain West Conference.

Cal will play Oregon State again next year in Corvallis, Oregon.

For Cal to cover the spread against Oregon State, the Bears will have avoid playing another game decided by one score. Five of Cal's seven games this season have been decided by seven points or fewer, and the Bears are 1-4 in those games. Since the start of the 2020 season, Cal is 7-18 in one-score games.

It will be interesting to see how the point spread for the Cal-Oregon State game changes over the next few days at various sites.