Quarterback Injuries Will Shape California-Utah Matchup

By BetOnline October 22, 2019

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The promising season for the California Golden Bears has become a disaster. Once 4-0 with wins over Washington and Ole Miss, the Bears have since lost three in a row, twice losing outright as a favorite. Now they’re a huge dog on the road at Utah, who is now the No. 12 team in the country. Can the Bears be at least slightly competitive and cover in this Saturday Pac-12 After Dark contest?

CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS AT UTAH UTES
CFB ODDS: UTAH -21.5
CFB TOTAL: 37.5

WHY THE GOLDEN BEARS WILL COVER THE SPREAD

The Golden Bears can cover the spread because they can play a great defensive game which will keep them close. The defense has always been the team’s calling card in the Justin Wilcox era and nothing has really changed here. They’re allowing just 18.7 points per game this season. When they’ve been shortchanged this season, it’s been because of the offense.

The defense could have an easier-than-expected job this week because the Utes might not have their own starting quarterback. Tyler Huntley got injured this past weekend against Arizona State and his status for this week is uncertain. The early reports suggest that he is leaning toward not playing this week as the Utes want to have Huntley ready for the Nov. 2 game at Washington against the Huskies.

If Huntley is out, Utah’s offense will have a much tougher time covering 20 points. Utah has been hurt by injuries at quarterback in the recent past and those seasons did not go well without Huntley. Utah scored just 21 points last week against Arizona State, which gives us some indication of how they’ll look without Huntley. As long as the Bears defense can get us about 10-14 points, that should be good enough to cover.

WHY THE UTES WILL COVER THE SPREAD

The Utes allowed just three points to Arizona State last week, in what was Utah’s best defensive performance of the season. Bradlee Anae was named the Pac-12 Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performance against Arizona State after registering three sacks.

Anae and his teammates should be able to feast on a Cal offense which might be playing its third-string quarterback in this game. Cal lost Chase Garbers earlier in the season and then this past Saturday, backup Devon Modster got hurt. Modster was bad anyways but the drop down to the third-stringer led to the Bears losing at home to Oregon State – a game in which they were 11-point favorites. Spencer Brasch finished the day two-of-six for 24 yards and a pick at home against Oregon State. Now he’s going on the road against an elite defense. This could be a bloodbath.

It’s a big spread here for Utah but if they score just 24 points, that might be enough to cover a 21.5-point spread because Cal might not score much of anything this week.

TAKING A LOOK AT THE TOTAL

The quarterback injuries make it very easy to pick the under in this game. Utah struggled without Huntley last week and Cal is down to a third-stringer. Even if Modster plays this week, he’s been lousy under center for Cal. With two good defenses on the field, don’t overthink this one. Bet the under at 37.5 before it goes down to 36 or 35.