Arizona State vs Cal Picks & Odds – Under Is 20-8 In Cal’s Last 28 Games

• The under has cashed in 20 of Cal’s last 28 games
• The Cal defense hasn’t allowed more than 20 points in any game this season
• What’s the best bet for Arizona State vs Cal this Friday (Sep. 27th)?

The Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1) will take on the California Golden Bears (4-0) on Friday night (10:30 PM ET) in a matchup of Pac-12 teams that have impressed early on this season. Cal is now ranked No. 15 while Arizona State is right outside the top-25 range after a narrow 34-31 loss to Colorado last week.

Let’s take a closer look at the Arizona State vs Cal odds and figure out the best bet in this spot.

Arizona State vs California Odds

Odds taken 09/26/19 .

Cal’s Defense Has Paved The Way To 4-0

When California hired head coach Justin Wilcox, we had a pretty good idea that he’d build a good defense at the program. That’s exactly what he’s done as the Bears haven’t allowed more than 20 points in a game this season. As a matter of fact, it’s been their calling card for over a year now.

What’s changed is that it looks like Cal finally has a competent offense. Nobody would ever mistake them for dangerous or explosive, but quarterback Chase Garbers is getting more and more comfortable, while the rest of the unit has been effective. Garbers already has 835 passing yards after totaling just 1,506 last year.

Garbers has also been able to cut back on the mistakes; he had 10 picks last season but has just two this year. One of the reasons for his improvement is less pressure on his shoulders. Cal’s ground game has been solid with Christopher Brown Jr. and Marcel Dancy combining for 514 rushing yards through four contests.

This team is not flashy but they’re a quality run-the-ball-and-play-defense squad. Because they don’t have a flashy offense or a star quarterback, they are often overlooked. There’s no question they’re an underrated squad in the Pac-12.

How Good Is Arizona State?

The Sun Devils had an impressive start to the season, winning their first three games, including a 10-7 victory at No. 18 Michigan State.

However, all the goodwill they collected in that win was washed away in a 34-31 home loss to Colorado last week.

When you start to look back at the season, their resume gets less and less impressive. They probably shouldn’t have defeated Michigan State; that win was mostly about the Spartans self-imploding. They also barely beat Sacramento State 19-7 and Kent State 30-7, two teams they should have run out of the stadium.

The defense was supposed to be elite, but Colorado ripped them apart.

On offense, they’re week-to-week depending on the quarterbacking of freshman Jayden Daniels, who has mostly been asked to be a conservative game manager.

Daniels is coming off his best game,going 24-of-39 for 345 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. However, a lot of his stats were inflated because Arizona State had to play from behind almost all game.

Eventually, he might be one of the better Pac-12 quarterbacks, but right now, the freshman is hard to trust.

What’s The Best Bet?

Cal is just a little bit further ahead in their program building that Arizona State. That was evident in their confident win at Washington a few weeks ago. ASU is going to be very conservative on the road here with a freshman quarterback and, while it worked Michigan State, it won’t work here.

I don’t expect a blowout as Cal doesn’t really blow teams out, but I do expect the Bears to win.

My favorite play in this game is the under, which has cashed in 20 of Cal’s last 28 games. Expect both teams to try to run the ball, play solid defense, and take points where they can get them. This shouldn’t be a high-scoring affair.

Pick: Under 41.0 (-105)