College Football Week 12: Cal At #14 Oregon State
| After starting 2-2 in the Pac-12, Cal is now 2-6 and just 3-8 overall. Would an upset on Saturday be enough to save Jeff Tedford’s job? | Coaching | Last week’s loss to Stanford—in which the Beavers had a two-possession lead late in the third quarter—essentially ended Oregon State’s Rose Bowl hopes. But it can use this game as a tune-up for the Civil War against Oregon next week. |
|---|---|---|
| The Bears actually kept up with Oregon into the third quarter last week, but five unanswered touchdowns put the game away. The offense has been hampered by a ton of turnovers (26). | Offense | Sean Mannion will start on Saturday, as the Beavers’ quarterback carousel continues. OSU will try to improve on its 86 yards rushing from last week. |
| See the note above about those five straight touchdowns. That was against Oregon, though, and the Beavers won’t pose nearly the same challenge. | Defense | The Beavers forced four turnovers last week. This unit is very reliable and should be able to contain Cal. |
| Cal’s special teams are middle-of-the-pack according to the Football Outsiders rankings. They will need to step it up to pull off the upset. | Special Teams | The Beavers have been poor on returns but decent limiting their opponents’ returns. |
The winner is
Oregon State
4 out of 4
Oregon State won’t win the North Division but it still has plenty to play for. Expect the Beavers to get the victory at home.
-Andrew Kahn, College Football Contributor
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