Even in a loss last week, Washington State showed it has something special to build on with quarterback Cameron Ward. The sophomore dazzled on the big stage against Oregon and put himself on the map nationwide. Still, look for the Bears to neutralize what the Cougars want to do on both sides of the ball. They’ll control the pace of play and keep this game within reach late. Take the Bears and the points.

Cal put it all together last week against Arizona with a 49-31 win and 599 yards of balanced offense. They could be 4-0 if it wasn’t for a loss at Notre Dame. They beat a really good UNLV. But man, this Washington State squad looks much more impressive with QB Cameron Ward running the show. They lost 44-41 to Oregon last week (covered +6.5) but had a team-unifying win at Wisconsin, 17-14, that sent a shockwave through the sport. They're showing they have the program headed in the right direction. Washington State to cover.

This might be my last pick for a while as not only am I still battling COVID symptoms, now a Category 4 hurricane is bearing down. Good times. Maybe I'll stub my toe later too and get stung by a bee (do bees evacuate?). Pac-12 Unders have been very good to us so far and we'll go right back to it for this matchup. Both these teams had played good defense this season until Week 4, but there are always fluke games. WSU leads the country with 38 tackles-for-loss and tied for fifth in the country with 14 sacks. Cal plays a pretty conservative offense. These two combined for 27 points last year. I'm sure they may be more than that this time but not more than 52.