Emerald Bowl: Miami vs. Cal Football Picks
Written December 22, 2008 by Jason Lowry
This Saturday the Miami Hurricanes and California Golden Bears are set to do battle in the Emerald Bowl. The Hurricanes finished the season at 7-5 and were 4-4 in the ACC, and were really hurt by the final two losses of the season to Georgia Tech and North Carolina State, as it looked like they had the edge in the Coastal division. The Golden Bears were a little better record wise, as they finished the regular season at 8-4 and were a solid 6-3 in the Pac 10. For those of you looking to do a little NCAA football betting this weekend, the oddsmakers have the Cal Golden Bears 8.5 point favorites over the Hurricanes at Bookmaker.com.
The Hurricanes come in with an offense that is averaging 27.9 points a game, and while the team has done a good job of holding on to the football this season with only 4 fumbles, but they didn’t get much help from their quarterbacks in the turnover category. Both Robert Marve and Jacory Harris play for the Hurricanes, but Marve has been prone to making more mistakes as he has just 9 touchdowns to 13 interceptions, while Harris has 10 touchdowns to 6 interceptions. The Hurricanes are at their best when they can just run the football, as they got a solid back in Graig Cooper, who ran for 778 yards and 4 scores this season. If this team wants to pull of the upset it can’t afford to have turnover totals like they had all season long. The Hurricanes defense really left us stunned in the final two games of the season, as they gave up 41 and 38 points in back to back weeks. This is a defense that held the Florida Gators to just 26 points earlier this season, and had won the previous 5 games by allowing just 17 points a game. The defense only had 4 interceptions all season, and that is a ridiculously low number for a defense. The two guys you want to keep your eye on our freshmen linebacker Sean Spence, who is a hard hitting force for the Hurricanes, and defensive end Marcus Robinson who had 4 sacks in the final 3 games of the season. Now the defense can be a force and its just a matter if this team can find what they had earlier this season. Bet Miami Hurricanes +8.5 at Bookmaker.com.
The Golden Bears have an offense that was pretty explosive this season, as they scored 33.3 a game, and a big part of that was the play of sophomore running back Jahvid Best who ran for solid 1,394 yards with 13 touchdowns and a ridiculous 8 yards a carry. Now Best wasn’t the only one doing damage out of the backfield, as Shane Vereen added another 679 yards and 4 scores. Both Kevin Riley and Nate Longshore have seen action at quarterback, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see both of these guys take some snaps in this one. Longshore is the better passer, but Riley adds a great run threat to the offense. In the passing game look for whoever is throwing the football to look for tight end Cameron Morrah who led the team with 8 receiving touchdowns this season. The Golden Bears defense is led by the play of linebacker Zack Follett who not only leads this teams with the way he plays, but he is also the vocal leader of this unit. Follett harassed opposing teams for 78 tackles, 19 of them going for loss, 8.5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles. Thanks to Follett and guys Tyson Alualu who had 6 sacks this season, the Golden Bears come in getting 2.75 sacks a game, and all that pressure has led to 23 interceptions and 9 forced fumbles this season. We have already mentioned how many times the Hurricanes quarterbacks have thrown it to the wrong team, and you have to think this defense is going to get at least 2 interceptions in this one. Bet California Golden Bears -8.5 at Bookmaker.com Get the latest NCAA football picks and grab the best college football odds at Betfirms.com.
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6 Responses to “Emerald Bowl: Miami vs. Cal Football Picks”
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First paragraph: California Golden Bears, not Golden Eagles
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Good catch.
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jacory harris has 10 tds 6 interceptions not 9 as stated in the above article.
jacory also has 2 rushing tds . he did this in 1/3 the snaps.
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Canethang – You are correct, he only has 6 interceptions not 9. Thanks for the correction.
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Cal “Golden Eagles”……faulty data…..reading this article was a waste of my time….GO BEARS!!!!!
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Additionally, misspelled words…bad syntax…is your writer Jason Lowry in 3rd grade? …..or maybe partying a little too much to hand in a cleanly written copy? ….haha…good luck with “betfirms.com”
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