Cal vs Nevada 9/4/21 College Football Picks, Odds, Predictions

The Cal Golden Bears meet the Nevada Wolf Pack in week 1 college football action from FTX Field at California Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.

The Nevada Wolf Pack will look to build on a strong 7-2 record including a 6-2 mark in Mountain West conference play, with the season culminating in a 38-27 win over Tulane in the Idaho Potato Bowl. Carson Strong is back under center after a strong season at QB for the Wolf Pack, throwing for 2,858 yards, 27 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, resulting in the Mountain West player of the year honors. Toa Taua and Devonte Lee form one of the best 1-2 running back combos in the MW while Romeo Doubs had over 1,000 receiving yards and 17 yards per catch last season. Cole Turner also returns after finishing second in receiving while adding 9 touchdown passes. Defensively, ten starters are expected to return including Dom Peterson and Sam Hammond up front who wreaked havoc up front for Nevada’s pass rush. Lawson Hall is back at linebacker after leading the Wolf Packwith 65 tackles while Daiyan Henley had 49 tackles. The secondary will be a strength as well with Tyson Williams sitting second with 56 tackles while Bentlee Sanders and Isaiah Essissima transfer in to help out with the depth within the lineup. As a team, Nevada is averaging 30.8 PPG while allowing 23.3 PPG last season.

The Cal Golden Bears come into 2021 after an abbreviated 1-3 mark in their 2020 season. Chase Garbers returns for another year under center, which is big because Cal is simply a much better team when Garbers is healthy and rolling along. Damien Moore and Marcel Dancy make up a physical 1-2 punch for the Bears in the backfield while Kekoa Crawford leads a group of six receivers returning for Cal’s offense under coach Justin Wilcox. Defensively, 11 of the Golden Bears’ top 12 tacklers are expected to come back with Kuony Deng and Cameron Goode in the linebacker group while Daniel Scott and Elijah Hicks are at safety. As a team, Cal averaged 20.2 PPG while allowing 26.5 PPG last season.

Nevada is 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games overall and 2-10 ATS in their last 12 games played in September while the under is 6-1 in their last 7 road games. Cal is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as a favorite while the over is 10-4 in their last 14 week 1 matchups.

This feels like a tough one to call as Cal is a better team than what we saw last year. With that said, as good as Chase Garbers is and how he makes this Cal team go, Carson Strong is right there with him and was the best player in the Mountain West last season. This Nevada team could surprise some people this year and it could start in this spot. An outright win wouldn’t shock me, but I’ll take Nevada and the points here.