The California Golden Bears are a pretty huge underdog this weekend against the Ohio State Buckeyes. After a frustrating Week 1 loss to Nevada at home and an equally unimpressive win over Southern Utah expectations and excitement for Cal's season appears to have been tempered quite a bit.
So now people have to be wondering: Is anyone giving California a chance to win this weekend on their road trip to Columbus? Anyone believing that Jeff Tedford can pull off the old magic and secure a road victory in the Horseshoe?
Nope. Not a soul.
The ESPN Big Ten and Pac-12 experts all have Ohio State over Cal. All seven CBS Sports experts and the Predictor Machine have the Buckeyes. Yahoo Sports experts and users all feel the same way.
Who does Bud Elliott have in his college football picks column?
Cal at Ohio State -16: Cal has been completely underwhelming this year, including an embarrassing loss against Nevada. I went against Ohio State last week not on any notion that the Buckeyes aren't talented, but rather that UCF was. This week, it's different. Ohio State will push Cal around on both lines and will maintain a manageable down and distance for young QB Braxton Miller. Defensively, Ohio State should be able to control a Cal offense that has yet to put it together.
Ohio State to cover? Yikes.
If you want some more college football predictions, here are some more picks from Dan Rubenstein of SB Nation.